


Hermione and The Lost Boys

by LilLostLady



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Lost Boys (Movies)
Genre: 80s movies, Betaed, Blood, Death, F/M, Half-Vampires, Killing, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Vampires, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-10 14:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 37,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13503897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilLostLady/pseuds/LilLostLady
Summary: After the war and her short-lived romance with Ron has sizzled out Hermione decided to rent a small flat by herself and one night she invited Ginny over to watch one of her favorite old movies ‘The Lost Boys’ and it turns out that witches, alcohol, and old movies really shouldn’t mix. Hermione/David, Ginny/Paul HP/TLB Crossover





	1. Movie Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own The Lost Boys or Harry Potter.
> 
> A/N: This is a Lost Boys and Harry Potter Crossover, my fanfiction.net account is always vanishing which is something I've never heard of but it's happening to me so I'll be putting all my stories on here soon I hope you enjoy.
> 
> *EDIT 10/28/18* Chapter beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

Sitting in front a bookshelf with a modest, but growing, collection of movies was one Hermione Granger; one-third of the golden trio and heroine of the Wizarding World.

Currently, she was trying to find a movie to watch with her friends. It was always an interesting experience watching movies with her magical world born friends.

Nothing had yet to top when Draco Malfoy came over with her friends one night and watched Mary Poppins. That was the most fun she'd had in a while.

It had taken some time but now, two years after the end of that dreadful final battle, people were finally starting to heal. It was unlikely that they'd ever forget though, especially with the press around since they were just as bad as they ever were. Only now Hermione was just as much a target for it as Harry was.

That was one of the reasons, the main reason actually, as to why the young woman's apartment was located in a muggle neighborhood and not a magical one. The last thing she wanted was to be hounded the second she stepped outside her door.

Sure, she could just go Harry's route and Floo or apparate from home but call it her muggle roots if you must. The young witch wanted to be able to leave her home through the front door.

Speaking of her home, it was a mix of both muggle and magical, unlike most of her close friends, and as such she had a working television. Because of that she usually had at least one movie night a week at her place with her friends.

Tonight was one such night. After another moment of shifting movies around Hermione's eyes caught a certain title she hadn't seen in a while, "The Lost Boys" and brightened said eyes up before she reached over and pulled it off of the shelf.

"I haven't watched this in forever." Hermione turned the movie over, read the description on the back, and smiled. "Well looks like I found tonight's movie." Just then the Floo came to life. "And just in time too."

Ginny stepped out the Floo saying, "Hey, looks like it's just us girls tonight. Harry and Ron have some Auror thing."

Normal movie nights consisted of the four of them but occasionally they had a tag along like Luna Lovegood or Draco Malfoy.

"Oh well, their loss. I picked one of my old childhood favorites tonight."

"Neat what is it about?" The redhead asked as she headed towards the kitchen, "I brought drinks. Where's the bottle opener?"

"Well, I guess I'll just sum it up by saying 80s vampires," Hermione answered while walking over to the VCR player from her bookshelf. "Oh, and it's in the second drawer to the right."

After a triumphant cry from the kitchen letting the older witch know that her guest had found what she was looking for, Hermione called to Ginny from the living room, "So, no popcorn tonight?"

"Nope. My buzzkill of a brother isn't here so we're gonna drink the night away while admiring some sexy vamps." She came out of the kitchen throwing a wink Hermione's way while bottles of alcohol followed floating behind her along with some shot glasses. The brunette guessed that the drinks would be stronger stuff than just the standard fire whiskey that she was used to.

"I didn't say the vampires were guys or that they were hot."

Ginny plopped down onto the couch smirking, "You didn't have to. Vampires in movies generally are stunning. I recall a certain 'Interview with a Vampire' and that's set a standard. So, they'd better be. Besides, doesn't matter if they're dudes or chicks as long as they're hot." She grabbed one of the floating bottles and a shot glass. "And it was a favorite of yours so hot guys are pretty much guaranteed."

"I'm not you Gin," Hermione deadpanned, "but yes from what I remember they were pretty cute."

The redhead snorted something that sounds like 'cute' and other words Hermione didn't bother to catch before she took her seat and grabbed a shot glass from the air. After making herself comfortable she grabbed the remote from the arm of the couch. Before she can press play Ginny stopped her, "Wait how're we gonna do this?"

"Hmm, I think the male main character's name gets said a lot from what I recall. We could take a shot every time it's said."

"Okay, cool what's the name?"

"Oh um," Hermione thought hard for a second before continuing, "it was Michael."

"Wait. I thought you hadn't watched this in a while so how do you remember that? Your memory is a frightening thing as always."

Hermione gently shoved Ginny for her smartass remark. "I read the description on the back before you got here."

"Ohhh, well that makes sense."

The brunette witch rolled her eyes and pressed play. As the movie played the two drank a shot every time 'Michael' was said. Hermione started to notice Ginny taking them on other variations of his name.

"We said we'd drink at his name, Michael. Not Mike or Mikey."

"Oh, come on it's still his name," the redheaded witch said with a slight slur.

"Oh alright."

"That means you missed a few drinks. You gotta do 'em now."

Hermione made a 'shhhing' sound before saying, "Be quiet or we'll miss more of them."

It didn't take long before Ginny got ahold of the remote and was rewinding it on to parts where Michael was being said and making them both drink every time she hit play and rewound again. Finally, Hermione was in control of the remote again and they were at the battle at the Emerson's place.

"I wanna hang from a train track now. Think we could try it on the tracks leading to Hogwarts somewhere?" The redhead slurred drunkenly.

"We should get the guys too and make a night of it," Hermione joked.

Ginny nodded with a 'let's go' but the brunette pulled her back, "The guys are busy tonight, remember?"

"Ah okay, tomorrow night then." She settled back down and took another shot despite Michael not being mentioned.

"Sure tomorrow," the brown-eyed girl agreed and they got back into the movie.

"Sooo not coo. First they cheat and kill that Mark guy in his sleep- Did he say Michael? Oh well whatever." She took another shot while Hermione mumbled 'Marko' in correction but was not heard. "Then all the hot ones start getting offed!"

"What you want the bad guys to win?" The young heroine asked.

"Sure, they're sexier," The redhead stated with a nod as she took yet another drink. Hermione didn't think the name was said though. Wait was the name again? Hmm, not important she supposed as she too took a drink.

"And murderers." Murder was bad. She might be tipsy but that still made sense.

"Vampires, there's a difference."

"I dunno."

"Well, I do. Which vampire was your kid crush on?"

"Hmm... Da-David ya. It was... I think that's his name ya... I thought Star should've picked him... I would've if I was her..." Maybe she needed to stop drinking. What was she saying again? Oh, right David, "...but then I wouldn't get him, so I decided it was okay that Star chose wrong." Oh, the movie was over so no more drinks.

Hermione let the shot glass go and it fell to the floor. She giggled, "Oops, I didn't make it float."

Ginny giggled and dropped hers too like it was a game.

"I like the blonde!" She all but shouted out loud, and somewhere in Hermione's mind, she wondered if her neighbors would make any complaints about this.

After finally registering what the other witch had said she replied, "They're all blonde."

"Nah huh, there's a bru-bernette," the younger girl giggled at her inability to form the word.

"Brunette." Hermione still corrected her because even when she's almost as drunk as her friend she's still Hermione and that's just what she does.

"Ya that." Ginny nodded hard enough that she almost lost balance but stopped just before falling off of the couch.

"Which blonde?" Hermione asked worriedly. After all, she already liked a blonde one, so Ginny couldn't like the same one as her drunken mind whispered.

"Long hair... it's pretty, I've n-never dated a long-haired guy before."

"Hmm." That's true the older witch realized. Ginny's dated lots of guys but she's never seen her with one that had as much or more hair than the girl in question.

"I know why don't I..." She paused as she gathered her chain of thought back, "date him then!" The girl drunkenly pointed to the now blank screen.

"He's not real... and dead too," Hermione told her.

"Just rewind it and he'll be undead! HA! Get it? Un-dead!" Ginny looked around for the remote which was laying in Hermione's lap.

The other witch laughed, "Okay you want to re-watch it then?"

"Nope!" She took the remote happily laughing, "I'll rewrite it, it'll be sooo cool!"

"Huh?"

Ginny hit the rewind button and then said, "You'll do it too, right?"

"Do... what now?" Hermione questioned as she tried to clear her clouded mind.

The redheaded witch laughed, "Rewrite it!"

Alright, that made sense the slightly older girl decided.

"Okay... how are we gonna do that?"

"We're witches! We can figure it out. I mean you've made up a spell or two before so no big deal, right?"

Part of Hermione realized that it was, in fact, a very big deal and not an idea worth giving words to let alone thoughts. But that's not the part of her that's currently in control, so she just shrugged with a grin and agreed.

Ginny cheered as she played the movie. It's back at the beginning so Hermione grabbed her wand and waved it at the both of them before pointing at the screen.

"Rewrite with these two witches." Hermione wasn't actually using any magic. Part of her was still aware enough to not tap into her core but the other witch wasn't following her lead and started to build her magic as if she was really about to cast a spell. Before that she wondered to her fellow witch, "Isn't it supposed to be in Latin?"

Hermione grinned and shrugged not noticing that the other was really about to cast a spell, so Ginny waved her hand and her wand flew into it while she added, "The vampires in this movie."

"Into real life," Hermione slurred with no magic behind the words. Ginny's magic really flared to life then as she stated, "Make real and rewrite, the Santa Carla vampires with these two witches let it be real life."

With a wave of her wand, everything suddenly went dark.

"Oh shit." Hermione cursed eyes widening in the dark before she knew no more.

-

With a groan, she opened one eye and then quickly closed it.

"Ginny..." she croaked. Her throat was painfully dry. She wanted water and a hangover potion. With another groan she slowly sat up trying to fight off the nauseous feeling. She fought to keep down her dinner before opening both of her eyes and glancing around, "...Ginny?"

She didn't see Ginny anywhere but there was a sign in front of her, an impossible sign.

The sign read, 'Welcome to Santa Carla'. Not Santa Cruz which is what it should say if she'd somehow apparated herself to this place. Not that she should've been able to travel that far and to a place she'd never even seen.

Slowly, she stood up and moved closer to the sign. With an unsteady hand she touched it. It felt solid under her fingers. It was real?

Before she could start to panic a voice reaches hers ears, "What was it that Dorothy girl said again?"

Hermione answered, "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

"Yes, that... Hermione, I have a feeling that we're not in London anymore."

"This isn't real," the brunette witch whispered into the quiet night air. The only one to hear was her friend and fellow witch.

"I think... maybe we made it real," was the response that came out just as quietly.

Hermione walked around the sign to find the voice of the person she'd been talking to. It was Ginny, like she'd thought, and the younger girl was staring at the same sign she had been looking upon; only the back side. "Murder Capital of the World" was graffitied on it. Even in the dark it could be read by someone this close to it.

Ginny's eyes finally left the sign to look towards Hermione.

"I think I'm too sober for this," Ginny joked.

Hermione who was still feeling the effects of their 'girl time' wasn't in the mood for it. "I don't think I'll ever drink again after this... We've gotta find a way to undo this."

"...Hermione?" Ginny's voice suddenly sounded frantic.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't find my wand!" Ginny started to check the ground around her as Hermione's eyes widened.

"Ginny! We have a bigger problem!"

"What, what could possibly be worse than us not having our wands?"

"I..." Hermione took a few deep breaths to keep from panicking, "Ginny... can you sense your magic? Because I can't… I can't... I have no magic," Hermione said with a whimper.

The redhead witch closed her eyes and tried to feel within herself. She came up empty.

"My magic's gone too..."

Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes but she fought them back. Ginny opened her own eyes and they looked at one another, both silently asking with their eyes, 'What now?'


	2. Welcome to Santa Carla (The Murder Capital of The World)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 10/28/18* Chapter beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

Taking a deep breath, Hermione quickly gathered her thoughts. "Okay so this, however real, is still a movie and we both know that in this movie's world there are no witches so technically until the movie comes to an end we probably won't have any access to our magic. At least that's the theory I'm going with at the moment."

Ginny seemed relieved to have some hope that it was only temporary. "So we just have to wait it out then?"

Hermione's brows furrowed, "Unfortunately no."

"No? What do you mean no?" The redhead said agitated.

"The spell... we said 'rewrite', so if we don't change the story I'm not sure the spell would break. It could put the world in a loop and give us a second chance or just make it where we can't leave and have to live in a non-magical 80's version of America."

"So, what you're saying is if we don't change anything we could be stuck here."

"Possibly."

Ginny looked annoyed at her bookworm friend's lack of answers.

It made the brunette huff in frustration, "This isn't an exact science and it wasn't something I've ever researched okay? It was just a stupid drunken spell that neither of us were prepared for, so we will both be going into this spell blind."

Ginny looked down at her feet chastised. "Sorry... I just wanted a more solid answer, I know you don't know everything."

"Not for lack of trying," the brightest witch of her age joked.

Ginny cracked a slight smile at that before getting more serious and asking, "So how do we plan on changing this movie then?"

"Well, I'd like to stay as far away from the Santa Carla vampires as possible but I'm not sure that's an option."

"I'd like that too. Why isn't it an option? I mean, the movie has other characters. Ones that aren't psychopathic killers."

"Vampires," Hermione said mockingly.

It took the redhead a minute, but she got that her earlier words were coming back to bite her and not in the fun way. Though, she supposed that in this world there was no pleasant way to be bitten.

"That's not fair. I was drunk when I said that."

"Still said it." Ginny stuck her tongue out at her fellow magicless witch. "Really mature Gin. Anyways back on topic, I think we will have to interact with the Lost Boys because of the intent behind the spell."

"What intent? We said we'd change the story and there's gotta be a dozen or so ways to do that from the sidelines."

"Yes, but before we said the spell we talked about saving the Lost Boys. So if this was cast with that intent then that's how we break the spell."

"...You really think the intention matters that much?"

"We could only get one shot at this, so I think we need to proceed like it does."

The redhead's freckles suddenly became a much more noticeable feature as all the color seemed to leave her face.

"I know it'll be dangerous, but we've been through worse we'll get through this."

"Ya..." She mumbled, and Hermione feels like she's missing something. "Ginny... your intention was to save the boys when you cast the spell right?"

"Yes!" Her voice was much too high to be a completely honest answer but before she could confront her on it the younger girl started sending rapid fire questions her way, "So where do we start? What part of the movie are we at? Where are we going to stay for the rest of our time here? My throat is dry where can we get a drink?"

"Gin calm down and let me think!" It took a few minutes of silence until Hermione finally put her thoughts into words.

"First, I think we're at the start of the movie when they eat the couple, so the Emerson's should be coming tomorrow or something... The movie didn't give exact timelines but it's safe to say that we need to find somewhere abandoned to hole up in for now. As for food and drinks... guess we steal them, though stealing money might be easier."

"How do we do we steal without our magic?"

That was a good question and one that hadn't come to the slightly older witch's mind even though it should have.

"The old-fashioned way..."

"Have you ever done that before?" The redhead asked.

"No... but I'm sure if plan it out right we can manage it."

At least she was hoping a little bit of brain power would pull them through, otherwise she wasn't sure how they'd survive the streets without magic.

-

"That was the worst plan ever!" Ginny said wiping her mouth.

"It worked though." Hermione held up the wallet.

"Next time you let him slobber all over you then." She threw the brunette a glare, still wiping her mouth.

"You didn't seem to mind at the time." Really, Ginny had looked into it and it was disturbing but she had kept her mind on sneaking around to get his wallet while he was busy kissing. Or, as Ginny said, slobbering on her friend.

"That's because I know how to fake it even when it's a drunken asshole who can't kiss and gets too grabby," Ginny said with disgust.

Feeling guilty for the plan, the bushy-haired girl apologized, "Sorry." Then added optimistically, "but hopefully this will last us for a while."

"Is there enough in there for mouthwash... or a soda?" The younger one questioned.

Hermione checked the contents of the wallet. "Hmm, not as much as I'd hoped but probably more than I should have expected. Still, if we're careful it should-"

Ginny cut her off and grabbed the cash, "Great, let's eat."

Hermione sighed but didn't complain. After all, Ginny was the one who did the hard part. Hermione just had to grab the wallet while he was distracted, and he was very distracted. She was going to need to have that obliviated from her mind at some point.

After eating the two searched for an abandoned building that wasn't housing homeless people which was harder than they'd thought. Santa Carla's population seemed to consist of more homeless runways than actual residents from what they could tell.

Once they finally did settle in for the night, they found it hard to sleep. Ginny because she wasn't used to sleeping anywhere that wasn't an actual home with a bed and Hermione because she was trying to fight off memories from her time on the run by constantly reminding herself that this was nothing like back then. It did little to ease her restless mind though, so the two girls started to bounce ideas off of each other until they fell into an exhausted and uneasy sleep; only to be awakened a few mere hours later by the sun shining on them.

Now they had until the sun set to get ready for the night on the boardwalk which would be when it all started. Until then they'd do the boring necessary stuff and maybe some Frog hunting if the season was right Hermione's mind supplied.

Hours later they'd spent all the stolen money on breakfast and a backpack which they stuffed with supplies that two young women would need for a few days.

"At least neither of us is currently on the rag," Ginny said trying to lighten the mood now that they were broke again and only having gotten the bare minimum of what they needed.

"You could always flirt with a person in a store and keep him distracted while I grab a few more things," the redhead scoffed having had her fill with being the one doing the distracting.

"Right because I can really pull that off."

Hermione frowned at the thought. It had never bothered her how bad she could be when it came to boys, or flirting in general, but now she wished she had a tad more experience to help out. Not that she could let someone paw at her like Ginny had without tearing the guy a new one but that wasn't the point.

Ginny shook her head, "Come on I've seen you flirt. You're not that bad..."

"I'm not that good either. Face it Gin if one of us needs to use our feminine wiles it's gonna have to be you."

The younger witch made a face. "You just need a bit of practice is all."

"I've only ever dated one person and that was your brother," she reminded her friend in exasperation.

"Ya well, I'm not asking you to date anyone. Just try fluttering your eyes and giggle a few times and you should be fine."

"Flutter my eyes... if I do that it'll look like I've got something in them that I'm trying to get out and I can't just giggle on command." How anybody could do that and not sound like a complete fake, the bushy-haired witch couldn't understand.

"A makeover would boost your confidence. Like that year at the Yule ball did."

"Gin, in case you missed the whole point of this conversation, we're broke."

The younger girl did not, in fact, need a reminder of this. Still, it looked like she'd have to take things into her own hands again.

Really what would she do without me, Ginny thought.

"Hmm, not for long. Watch my back. I'll get us some money and then it's make over time."

"What? No. You don't need to do that again and we can't waste money on looking nice anyway."

"Hermione, Hermione, Hermione, what am I going to do with you? Of course, we need to look nice. How else does one attract a murderous vampire?"

The brunette's eyes widened, "We aren't trying to attract them! We're just keeping them from getting offed is all."

"And that's exactly why we need to get an 80s makeover to blend in with the other girls. Of course, we'll still be hotter than them," she says confidently with a wink.

"An 80s look... Okay, I get it, but all we need to do that is get a hold of two sets of clothes from this time."

"David's not gonna notice you with that attitude towards fashion. I mean you have seen Star, right?"

"Wha? I don't wan-"

Ginny continued on as if she hadn't just interrupted her friend, "Though you have the right hair for the look, especially after last night."

This caused Hermione's hands to fly to her hair self-consciously and start to try and pat it down some. Ginny laughed and shook her head. "Don't bother. It won't work. Besides your hair is finally in fashion so no need to fight it anymore."

Grumbling, she slowly took her hands away before spotting her new target, "Ready?"

Sighing, she nodded. At least this time Ginny was volunteering herself, so Hermione didn't have to feel as bad about using her friend like this.

-

The two girls found that it wasn't as easy during the day and when the subject wasn't drunk. "Do you think we took it a little too far... I mean knocking him out like that."

"He deserved it. No means no. It's not my fault he wouldn't listen."

The older girl nodded, all the while thinking that she did lead him on and then suddenly wanted to stop just before what he would've considered the good part. Hermione decided to drop it, though, given that Ginny did have to go further than she wanted because Hermione couldn't find a good opening to take his wallet. At least it was worth it.

"How do you manage to get the guys with more than a few dollars on them?"

"It's easy to tell who comes from money when you grew up without much yourself but enough about that, let's go beautify ourselves."

"I'm not sure..." Hermione hadn't stopped thinking that something was up, and she wanted to know what, "Ginny why do you want to look nice for them?"

Ginny giggled, "We are stuck here so we might as well have fun with it right? Besides flirting with a vampire might be fun."

The brightest witch of her age couldn't help but feel upset at that answer. She must have been looking too deep into things.

"If you really feel that way then when we get back home I'll find you a nice safe vampire to flirt with."

"What if I don't want nice?" Her voice was sincere and lacked the flirty tone and that worried the older girl.

"...Are you still taking this seriously? This isn't Hogwarts. You could really get hurt by these guys." Hermione wasn't sure what was going through her friend's mind and that needed to stop. They only had each other here after all.

Sighing, the girl looked away, "I am, I was thinking about what you said about intent all night and... My intention when casting that spell wasn't purely about saving them. Hell, it may not have been to save them at all."

"What are you saying?"

"I was drunk and in my drunken wisdom thought it'd be a good idea to shag a vampire... specifically Paul." Ginny's expression looked slightly shamefaced as she admitted this to her friend. The only one she had in the world, literally, at this moment.

Hermione's mouth dropped open. "I-I could be wrong about the intent!" She all but yelled at her fellow witch.

"When are you ever wrong?" She said without humor.

"Occasionally and this could be one of those times," Hermione insisted.

"But if you're not wrong?"

Hermione didn't know what to say to that. Suddenly things got that much more dangerous.

"But... you can't sleep with him. He'd probably kill you." She paused, "Scratch that, he will kill you!"

Ginny shrugged, "I plan to cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, I figured I'd just get him to want me first and then go from there."

"No, we can figure out something else," Hermione insisted again.

"Maybe but I doubt it. So until then I need to look nice and so do you."

"What, why? I didn't cast the spell with shagging anyone in mind." Not that she could recall anyway. Now she was starting to get slightly worried. No, she was sure that she hadn't been thinking about shagging anyone then.

"That's probably true but we were both drunk and you did mention David before that."

"So?" The older girl tried not to let her worry at her own question show.

"So, it doesn't hurt to have him at least express an interest in you. Besides you need to look closely at what exactly you wanted when the spell was cast... just in case."

What had she been thinking that night. She couldn't recall all her thoughts clearly what if… damn. "Oh my god... this is a nightmare. Okay, I'll try and remember if I had an alternative motive." She prayed that she hadn't. After all, it was going to take all of her effort to find a way for Ginny to not have to sleep with a vampire or to live through it if she did go through with it.

"Cheer up. I get to shag a dangerous hottie so it's not that bad and your hair is almost perfect. We both know that David likes girls with hair similar to yours if Star is anything to go by."

Ignoring the first part of that sentence she agreed to follow her younger friend's lead, "...Let's just get this over with."

"Careful. All that enthusiasm could kill you," the redhead joked, "Really though just think about the positives."

"Like?"

"How awesome muggle food is in the 80s, that we are technically in America and it didn't cost us a single Knut, or that your hair is in style!"

The brunette rolled her eyes, "Would you shut it about my hair?"

"Fine but just for now." Ginny knew her hair was a sensitive subject as far as the other girl's looks went but over the last couple of years the fizz had calmed down and Hermione started using Wizarding hair products in her daily morning routine to help control the rest. But the sea air plus the lack of hair products really did make Hermione blend in with the locals, at least as far as her hair was concerned. The clothes were another matter.

At that thought Ginny wondered what she should have done to her own hair. It had always naturally been straight but making a change would be nice and she could just use magic and change it back when she got home if she really wanted to.

-

Later that night found the two newly freshened up girls with their new hairstyles wandering the boardwalk. Ginny had a new curler look but Hermione looked almost like always, just with more volume

Probably from all the hairspray the salon lady tried to choke me with, she thought sarcastically.

The redhead's new outfit was a dark green dress that stopped just above her knees with dark gray leggings and a pair of cute, but simple, pair of black boots. A black leather jacket completed the ensemble, which she stole when Hermione was distracting the sales lady with outrageous demands for an outfit before storming out after pretending to be insulted at their selection.

She knew it was wrong, but she'd felt bad after what Ginny had had to put up with during their time here to get them money. So, when she saw her friend eyeing the expensive jacket she decided to go for it and put her acting skills to the test. Much easier to do than flirting in her opinion.

Hermione's outfit was a gray-blue shirt with an off shoulder look on one side, which showed her black bra strap, and a pair of Capri jeans with a simple pair of flats to finish her outfit off. It wasn't the sexy look that Ginny wanted her to wear but it was certainly more comfortable than anything her younger friend had tried to force on her.

They continued walking on the boardwalk looking for the familiar places from the movie where they'd come across the Lost Boys. It was decided that they would hopefully delay them outside of the video store in hopes that Michael would take Star for that ride before David and his boys could stop them. Maybe Michael wouldn't be come a half-vampire tonight if things worked out.

It wouldn't be their first change as they had not been wasting the day. With any luck it would stop or delay Sam meeting the Frog brothers, after all their store couldn't open if they had no comics to sell. It was mean, but way too easy, to get the Frog brothers out of the way and chasing after a comic thief that they'd bribed with free food to steal said comic.

With the comics all burnt, even if Sam met them they would not be giving any free comics to the boy. So no 'Destroy All Vampires' for the teenager this time around.

Just as Hermione finished that thought she heard an eerily familiar laugh followed by others that caused her to shiver. They were right there in her sight now and way too real looking coming out of the video store.

"Cool made it just in time," Ginny whispered and started to make her way over only to stop when she noticed that her friend wasn't following. In fact, she was frozen.

"Hermione?" The younger girl whisper yelled her name to get her attention. She shook her shelf out of it before quickly rushing after the redheaded witch who was giving her a 'what the hell was that look'. Hermione bit her lip before mouthing 'later.'

Luckily the boys were still close enough to catch up with. Hermione usually knew what to say when confronting people but this time she wondered if she might be better off leaving it to her friend. However, when Ginny did speak she regretted her internal decision instantly.

Ginny had caught up and grabbed Paul's arm causing him to stop, thus causing all of the other boys to follow suit. She was acting way too friendly with him given that he was a stranger, but he didn't seem to mind. "Hey there! You look like you know a thing or two about fashion. What do you think of my new jacket my friend here just got me?"

Hermione wished that she hadn't been dragged into this. Even though she knew she should help keep them distracted, when she felt their eyes on her she clammed up again. She was feeling quite angry at herself but kept quiet only because she still couldn't find her voice.

"You wanna know my opinion on your jacket?" The vampire, whose name they knew to be Paul but hadn't been properly introduced as yet, asked. He had a smirk as he looked her up and down obviously checking her out as the other boys smirked and laughed.

"Well you could tell me what you think of my entire outfit, but yes I'm asking if you like my jacket." Ginny winked at him letting his arm go and doing a quick twirl so that he could get a good look at her outfit.

Sometimes Hermione wondered what it'd be like to have no shame like her fellow witch before her.

Dwayne looked at Paul and stated, "I'll bet he likes what's in it."

Paul nodded with a wicked grin, "Yeah I do."

Marko whistled and winked, "I bet he'd like her better out of it!"

The others laughed and David just shook his head at the boys, but his expression was still the same. Hermione has a feeling he thought they were easy food.

Before this could get any further David's smirk fell and he turned, expression unhappy. Hermione's the only one who notice. Her eyes followed his and she saw why. Star, and she was on the back of Michael's bike and they were taking off. Well looks like they made a real change to the story after all.

Until David spoke up, "Come on boys we have somewhere we need to be. You'll have to excuse us ladies." He mock tipped his head as if he was wearing a hat before taking his leave quickly.

The other boys picked up on their leader's mood and were quick to follow. Paul was last to go giving Ginny a wink as he left. They stood there quietly the redhead questioning why they had left but Hermione said nothing; just stood there watching the way they had departed. It wasn't but a few minutes later that the boys were on their bikes and heading out in the direction where the brunette had seen Michael leave.

"Damn." They were following Michael and Star. Would things still happen only with the riding order slightly different?

"What is it?" Ginny asked seeing them leave but not knowing where to or why like the brunette.

"They're following Michael and Star… we haven't changed anything!"

Ginny frowned but then caught sight of a familiar figure, "Not true look there," the other witch turned to where her redheaded friend was pointing. They saw Sam heading into the video store and walking up to his mum.

"No 'Destroy All Vampires' comic for him."

"Not yet… I'm starting to think that this world is going to fight to stay on track." Hermione might be wrong or paranoid, but it seemed like the world was out to stop them, at least from her view.

"Well, we will just have to fight back even harder then!" Ginny pumped her fist in the air. "Come on Hermione. I thought you liked a challenge and what's a better opponent than the world?"

The older girl laughed at her fellow witch's words. Why not be more optimistic like her? It wouldn't hurt the outcome either way and she would have to worry a little less for the time being.

"You know what? You're right," Hermione smiled as she looked to the sky. "Okay world bring it on. Next time I'll be ready."

She just had to outsmart a world that she helped make real. No problem. She could do that.

Hopefully.


	3. Blood Magic?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 10/28/18* Chapter beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

The two were currently inside a small burger joint not too far from where they had encountered the Lost Boys. Only half an hour before they didn't have the money for a burger but that was, sadly, easily taken care of. Now that they were sitting the older girl knew the real reason they had come here would be brought up soon enough.

"Okay spill!" Ginny said before taking a sip of her muggle soda.

"I kind of wish you were asking me to spill my overpriced coke," Hermione joked halfheartedly.

"Hermione! Come on talk to me. You froze earlier. What was up with that?"

The curly haired witch sighed, "It's just... it hit me then that this was real."

The redhead looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "The past day wasn't real enough for you?"

The non-magical witch shook her head at her friend and tried to make her understand, "It was but suddenly hearing that voice and seeing them in person, it was just… terrifying."

Ginny blinked owlishly, "You mean you were afraid of them but you weren't before."

"That's because it didn't hit me; our situation. I mean, of course I knew we were in danger but seeing them made me realize how much because, like it or not, these guys can literally tear us apart."

Ginny grimaced and took a bigger gulp from her glass. "Okay but Hermione, we've been in danger before. You especially. So what's different this time?"

"You're right." Looking at her arm and the currently covered 'mudblood' scar she sighed, "I've been in danger, more so than we currently are, but even when I was helpless and alone I still had magic… Whether I was able to do anything with it at the time didn't matter so much as the fact that it was there and it always has been. Even when I didn't know it. And now, being so close to man-eating monsters, I don't have it. It just all hit me at once and I froze."

Ginny nodded again looking thoughtful, "Okay. I get it more than I'd like to now that you've explained it but we really can't afford to dwell on that."

Hermione pursed her lips and took a drink before continuing, "You're right I'll make up for it the next time I see them."

"That's another problem though. The story is moving right on along and by tomorrow Michael will probably be a halfie."

Ginny frowned into her drink. The brunette did the same before adding her own thoughts.

"We won't have many opportunities to change the story hanging out on the boardwalk. Not in any meaningful ways. If he is a…" she glanced around before whispering the next part, "Half-vampire tomorrow then the only change would be his brother Sam but even he'll catch onto something being up when the part with the reflection and the flying happens."

"So, any ideas?" The other girl asked.

"Unfortunately, none for tonight seeing as they're at the cave by now. And unless you've got a broomstick hidden somewhere and can actually fly it we're not getting anywhere close to that cave tonight."

"Does make me curious how far a walk that would be," the redhead said trying to lighten up the mood.

"Even you, with all your athletic skills, wouldn't be able to pull it off. Not with the fog out there at any rate."

The two girls sat in silence sipping their drinks. Ginny's eyes landed on her friend's arm. "I was kind of surprised before when we were trying on clothes that it was still there. I mean magic made it… sure it was dark magic, but still magic and if magic is like blocked or nonexistent in this world then it would make sense if that scar had disappeared altogether. You even still have the one from when we broke into the Ministry."

Hermione's eyes traveled back to her clothed arm. "This world just has rules that we don't understand is all." She shrugged and finished her coke. "I'm going to use the washroom before we leave."

The ginger nodded and stared down at her nearly empty drink. "I'll be there in a minute. I might as well finish this strange muggle beverage what with how much it cost."

Once in the washroom, Hermione did her business and went to the sink only to find the soap dispenser was stuck.

"Just great," she growled under her breath as she kept trying to get it to work. After a moment she found the problem was that someone jammed something in the nozzle. She tried to remove it only to let out a yelp, "Ouch!"

She glared at her bleeding finger with a tiny piece of glass embedded in it.

"Why would someone put broken glass in there… no, how would someone do it without cutting themselves?" While asking this she took the glass out of her finger carefully with her other fingers so as not to cut herself even further. Once that was done she laid it beside the sink and turned on said sink to rinse off the blood.

While rinsing her hand she let her mind wander about how to get further involved with the Lost Boys. What she really needed was to be at that cave tonight to make some changes.

"That'll never happen though."

Taking her hand out from the water she checked it over before feeling the familiar uncomfortable feeling of apparition. Suddenly, she was somewhere outside staring at the opening of a cave that she shouldn't be looking at right now.

-

"How?" Her eyes widened in disbelief. She used magic but how? She couldn't even feel it, though for a moment during apparition she could feel something. But it was gone as soon as it came. Still, the witch knew she wasn't trying to use any magic so how did she do it? Was it accidental magic? But that made no sense either. Her own words came back to haunt her at that moment, "This world just has rules that we don't understand is all."

So, then she has magic, she just can't use it… or can she? Wasn't the brunette just thinking about this cave-

"What are you doing here?" The words cut straight through her thoughts.

"Star?"

The girl in question raised her eyebrows and backed up a little, "How do you know my name?"

Well this wasn't good. She was standing right outside the Lost Boys' cave and making Star suspicious of her.

"Are you bleeding?" The girl suddenly asked warily.

Hermione replied negatively, "Not anymore." Glancing down at her cut finger and seeing that the bleeding had stopped she had a startling thought.

Star glanced back to make sure no one had followed her. "You shouldn't be here."

"No kidding." She had no idea how right that statement was.

This idea was crazy and would probably bring trouble, but she had to try so she squeezed her finger to get it to bleed. It worked because Star's eyes went wide.

"What're you doing they might smell-" She stopped herself before giving away anything else.

Hermione just concentrated on what she wanted to happen both in her mind and out loud, "Star go for a walk and forget we talked, okay?"

She was basically trying an Imperius curse through blood magic. Though blood magic didn't work this way, things here were different and she could only hope that it did the job.

Star's eyes glazed over and she nodded while walking around Hermione to continue on her walk. Hermione was trying to wrap her brain around it. She had just used a type of blood magic and an Imperious and she didn't have wartime to use as an excuse for using them either. Not wanting to dwell on what type of magic she just used, she instead whispered to herself, "I can't believe that worked…"

Bringing her bleeding finger up in front of her she willed it to heal and it did, without even the slightest hint that it had been cut in the first place. This took it to a whole new level for intent based magic.

"Neat magic trick, though I doubt it'll work on me," a voice said from behind her. She whirled around and came face to face with a smirking Dwayne, the quiet one that she knows the least about, and was suddenly uneasy because she wasn't sure if it would or not. Or even if her powers would listen to her all the time. Not to mention that she was pretty sure she needed to bleed for them to even have a chance at working and bleeding right now was definitely not her best option.

"Curious though. I can't read your mind. Somehow you're blocking me… I wonder, what else can you block?"

His face was curious and Hermione hoped she could pull off her best acting yet, "I've never met a vampire before, but I do know that none of your mind games will work on me."

At least she hoped that her occlumency shield was fully functional and would protect her.

"So, you know what we are, and you followed us?" He grinned then, "Curiosity killed the cat you know."

At thiat moment she knew she needed be the brave and somewhat reckless Gryffindor she was known for and not the cautious Slytherin that somehow developed within her during her time on the run. If she hoped to get on the good side of them, after all the Lost Boys are nothing if not reckless, her Gryffindor needed time to shine.

"Good thing I'm a witch then and not a cat." She stated boldly.

"A witch?"

She smirked, "What never met a witch before?"

He leaned in closely, eyes glinting. "I've never heard of a real witch before and I've 'lived' for a long time."

"I'm sure you have," She said forcing herself not to take a step back. That would show fear as well as move her closer to the opening of the cave where the rest of them were. Of course, they could probably smell fear, but then again so could werewolves and she managed well enough around them.

"Well you came here to meet some vampires. It would be rude of me to not indulge you." With that, he held out his hand for her to take.

"A gentleman vampire?" She didn't take his hand but instead turned around and headed into the cave, not really having much of an option unless she wanted to attempt another apparition.

Once inside she saw something she'd only ever see before on screen and well the tv screen couldn't do it justice. It was amazing in person. Everything was real, she could feel the cool ocean breeze behind her and the rough stone beneath her shoes. The firelight in the oil drums cast flickering shadows that the movie lights never portrayed.

It didn't take long before all eyes were on her.

"Who's she?" A drunken Michael asked but she paid him no mind and instead looked at the bottle in his hand. Well that answered that. Tomorrow he'd be a 'halfie' as Ginny would say and the story would still be on track.

Unless she could derail it tonight…

It was worth a try.

"Didn't think we'd see you again so soon." David spoke up from his 'throne' as Hermione's eyes left the bottle of blood wine on Michael's lips.

"Is your friend with you?" Paul asked with a grin.

"No, but I know she'll be sad to have missed such an intense party," the witch answered sarcastically. "I'm guessing your new friend doesn't know what he's drinking…"

David frowned and tilted his head in curiosity like he was trying to read her. Then his eyes shifted over to Dwayne who was just a bit behind him and his expression changed into a wicked smile as Marko laughed, "Do a magic trick!"

Hermione's eyes drifted to Michael as she wondered how much of this he'd recall in the morning.

"Oh don't worry about Michael. He won't recall a thing in the morning," David said as Paul threw an arm around the newly made half vampire.

Her attention was back on David as without his say the others probably wouldn't attack her. He was the one she needed to keep an eye on. "Better safe than sorry."

She sort of wished she had a knife, but mostly the brunette hoped that this worked like it did before. Raising a hand to her mouth she bit down on her finger hard enough to draw blood without so much as a flinch from the pain. She maintained eye contact with David who looked intrigued.

Her mind focused on Michael, but her eyes stayed on David as she commanded, "Michael go to sleep now."

Just like that he dropped, though Paul still had his arm thrown over him so he half caught the falling teenager. Paul cursed as he caught him while Marko held his stomach and laughed. Hermione took her eyes off of the Lost boy leader to focus on her hand and just like before it healed.

David stood from his throne and clapped, "So witch to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"My name is Hermione," 'Not witch', she added silently and smiled at him. "I've never met a vampire before. So in the spur of the moment, I decided to change that after seeing you… and let's just say at the moment I'm not impressed."

-

Author's Note: I hope you liked it the boys will be a big part of the next chapter and Ginny will probably be missing for a chapter but worry not she will come back after all she still needs to shag Paul ;)


	4. Of Witches, Vampires, and Sleeping Halflings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 10/28/18* Chapter beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

The cave was quiet for a few seconds after her proclamation, but it didn't stay that way once Paul dumped the unconscious Michael on the couch. Marko seemed to take that as the signal to start laughing again.

David, on the other hand, looked less than amused despite the smirk his face was sporting.

"Well, we can't have that now can we," David said from across the cave only to, in the next moment, be right in front of her.

"Okay so you're fast. Nice trick and all but I've seen scarier silent films."

Not true but he didn't have to know that.

"Is that so?" He was directly in front of her close enough to feel his breath. Not a good distance to be in when it came to a vampire but backing down now was not an option as he was clearly trying to intimidate her and the last thing she needed was for him to know that it was working.

Not only that, but not far behind her was Dwayne. Though she couldn't see him, she knew he was there. This could go badly if she wasn't careful.

"Yeah." She shrugged and glanced behind him as a way to collect her nerves. "And I suppose I was expecting something like a castle and coffins too… but a cave works I guess."

He backed away some as Dwayne spoke up from behind her, "I'll give the girl some credit. Her heart rate isn't nearly as fast as it should be right now."

The vampire in front of her looked smug, "True but I can still smell fear."

He got her there. Damn vampire senses.

"It'd be stupid not to be at least a little bit afraid, but I'm not overly concerned. I'm familiar with life and death situations… and I hardly think this qualifies as one."

"Oh?" The blonde raised an eyebrow, "You don't think we can kill you?"

"Well you could but I don't recommend it." She rolled her eyes feigning calmness.

"Why's that?" Paul asked joining in the conversation by jumping over the couch and landing next to his leader.

"Because if you did I'd take you all out with me. Magic you know." It's said so matter-of-factly that she was pretty sure they wouldn't try to call her bluff.

"I've noticed you have to be bleeding when you do your magic," the dark-haired vampire added. "If we snap your neck there's no blood."

"Maybe… but you really shouldn't take chances like that, should you? Even if it is the case, all I'd need to do was bite my tongue before you snapped my neck."

Wow, this conversation was morbid but really, they're vampires. What could else did she expect?

"As fascinating as this is, especially the blood portion, we should all relax and just enjoy the night, don't you agree?"

"Not with the blood part obviously, but sure. It'd be interesting to see what vampires do with all of that spare time."

Grinning, David glanced back at the vampire furthest away, "Marko take Michael home so he can sleep it off."

"Aww come on why me? Make Paul do it?" The youngest looking one complained but one look from the other vampire has him obeying the order and lifting up the newly made half-vampire with an ease that no one person, let alone one smaller than Michael, should be able to do by themselves.

"Make sure not to do any neat magic tricks until I get back though alright?"

Was he really going to keep calling it magic tricks. That was kind of degrading. "…I'll try to restrain myself."

"Great! Be back in a few!" With that, he flew out of the cave with Michael in tow.

"You don't seem surprised that he can fly." David observed.

"Well if witches can do it why not vampires?"

"You can fly-" Dwayne started but Paul butted in jokingly, "Do you fly on broomsticks?"

"Well not me but some witches do." That made her think of Ginny. That was one witch you didn't want mad at you but it was probably unavoidable at this point that she was going to be groveling something fierce later on for leaving her even if she didn't do it on purpose.

"Are you serious?" The blonde that Ginny wanted to shag gaped unattractively.

The witch nodded, "Unfortunately."

"So, can you fly without one?" David asked while he lit a cigarette that he pulled out of somewhere while she was distracted with answering questions.

Speaking of, it was a good question but, while giving away what she can and can't do seems like a bad idea, the idea of telling them she can and then not being able to demonstrate if they asked would probably not be good either.

"…I don't know. Never tried." That was truthful enough.

"Why not?" It was Paul again.

"No point." She was not going to say that she was afraid of flying. That was just asking for trouble.

"Then how did you follow us?"

Should she answer that? It seemed like she was the one giving away information while they were the ones keeping things hidden but did that matter? She already knew everything from the movie

"Apparition."

"Apple what?" Paul asks dumbly as David moved his hand to his mouth to cover his chuckles.

The witch said, annoyed, "Basically it's just disappearing and reappearing where you want to."

Not a completely accurate description but it was the best she was going to offer them.

"Really? And you can go anywhere with this apple-transportation?" Okay, now she knows he's just saying that to mess with her but well, she wouldn't be Hermione if she didn't correct him despite that.

"Once again, it's called apparition and has nothing to do with apples, and it does have limitations. So, no, I cannot just go anywhere with it."

"What's the limitations?" Dwayne asked but the other brunette shook her head, "Not telling."

Their leader snickered, "That's fair. We've already learned more than enough about witches for the time being. Now you did say you wanted to see how we spent our free time, isn't that right?"

Warily, she looked at David's expression knowing she'll probably not like whatever it is that he's got in mind. But she couldn't back down. "Yeah…"

"Alright boys, looks like we're going back out." He put out his smoke and gestured at the stairs for her to follow them but seeing an opening she took it.

"What about the other one? Marko, was it?"

"He'll catch up." The leader then looked thoughtful, "Haven't introduced ourselves yet have we?"

Good, now she wouldn't have to worry about slipping up and calling them by name anymore.

"I'm David, that's Dwayne, and the dumb one is Paul." The other blonde yelled in protest. "The one dropping off our new brother is Marko like you said."

"New brother… So that was blood that he was drinking then." It was more of a statement than a question.

A smirk was the only reply as she followed them back outside and over to their bikes.

"Since you don't know if you can fly tonight we'll have to go this way." David got on after saying that but Hermione wasn't sure. Not only had she never ridden one but who would she ride with?

"What are you waiting for hop on?" David said after seeing her stationary position.

"Or were you wanting to apple your way over?" The annoying one, as she will now dub him, asked and she bit her tongue knowing better than to correct him when he does it just to rile her up.

"Alright. Fine." Since David offered the witch guessed riding behind him would be alright and, well, it couldn't be too hard to figure out.

As she was trying to get comfortable behind him without touching he had to go and ask, "You've never ridden on one, have you?" The humor in his voice would've made her smack him if he wasn't a blood-sucking monster.

But damn was she that obvious?

Remaining confident she responded, "It's not like I need to. I've never even had to ride in cars all that much."

Where did her hands go again. Did she have to touch him?

He grabbed her hands and put them around his waist. "It's not necessary for us either but it is fun. Maybe you need more of it."

Don't blush, do not blush! She willed herself to keep the blood at bay but she wasn't sure succeeded completely. Hermione forced her way past it by talking, "I'm here with you lot, aren't I?"

In reply he revved the bike's engine and it was louder than she expected it to be. Then, without further warning, they were taking off making her grip tighten because, hell, this might have been even worse than flying. Not even realizing, she slammed her eyes closed until she felt, more than heard, him laughing at her reaction. The Gryffindor inside her demanded she be brave if only to shove it to him and his stupid handsome vampire face.

She opened her eyes.

It wasn't quite as bad as she thought it'd be, though her eyes were a mildly irritated by the wind making her question inwardly if there was a spell to fix that.

There was not a lot to see given the fog but even with the wind rushing by her at too fast a pace she was technically still on the ground. Even if he wanted to scare her, he wouldn't wreck his bike to do it. Of that she was pretty confident.

"Your heartbeat has calmed down some." The wind made his voice carry but she still heard him, "though what does it say when your heart beats faster on a bike than when confronting a vampire?"

"I don't know… that maybe I should reevaluate my decisions in life?"

The vampires laughed but other than the normal rambunctious noise, the bikes, and the ripping wind it was a peaceful drive to their destination. Maybe she did need to reevaluate things. After all, who in their right mind got on the back of a bike driven by a vampire to who knows where? The answer; Hermione Granger, that's who.

Her parents would be so disappointed and probably would have regretted ever buying her the movie. If one thinks of it that way, wasn't it kind of their fault to begin with?

-

"You're serious?"

He just raised an eyebrow at her question. How did she get herself into these things?

When they first parked their bikes, the witch was admittedly confused as this was not a place from the film. To be fair, since this was now real, it made sense that there was more to the world than the little piece of Santa Carla that she'd previously seen.

The streets were empty, but it didn't take too long to come into a residential area which made the witch fear the worst. They couldn't possibly be taking her on a hunt, though, right?

Luckily, she was right about that as they had eaten earlier, off screen so to speak.

Still, this was completely juvenile and something that she and her two boys back home might've gotten up to while trying to save the world or a non-mass-murdering escaped convict. Well the sneaking around part was but she digressed.

Currently, they were, for lack of a better word, pranking. The marauders would be proud. Was that really the right word for it though considering who it was doing such things? So rather than pranking it was terrorizing. They were terrorizing a muggle neighborhood.

And they wanted her to do the same.

It was mainly with mind tricks but while on a roof -yes a roof, she blamed David for that one- with the newly arrived Marko, she saw Paul putting dead rats into a little old lady's mailbox so obviously mentally scarring people was optional.

The things they cut out of movies, who knew?

Back to her current problem though. The little imp-like vampire was trying to get her to use her powers on the muggle next door who was harmlessly watching TV in front of an open window. This would cause no end of trouble for her if the Wizarding World found out, but she doubted they would… Not that she would do it even then though.

"Come on just a little, pretty please? I wanna see what you can do!" He pleaded, eyes twinkling.

…How can a vampire seem so innocent?

"Fine…" she sighed, "But I'm just gonna scare him a little bit."

He nodded exuberantly, "Of course!"

She'd seen the way others around the neighborhood reacted to their mind games and wouldn't be surprised if they needed therapy afterward. She couldn't bring herself to find that funny like the boys around her did.

Still, what could she do that would be acceptable?

Looking back at the muggle lazily watching the telly she bit her lip hard and tasted a little blood before willing herself to conjure spiders. Fifteen sounded good. Oh and no poisonous ones. They appeared on the couch with the muggle.

It worked and Marko's eyes widened as he muttered something like 'so cool' and watched on.

It didn't take long for the man to notice the spiders and start jumping and screaming as he tried to crush them with the only thing in reach; a bowl of chips.

Looking away from the scene she asked, "Happy now?"

Giggling he turned to her. "Do it again!"

"No." The young witch crossed her arms defiantly.

He turns on the puppy dog eyes and asked again, "Come on, please?"

"That's not working again-" Just then she jumped a bit as another figure landed beside her. It was David.

"What did she do?" He questioned curiously and the other blonde vampire motioned to the house across from them where the poor muggle was still fighting off the spiders.

"She made them just appear out of thin air it was awesome!"

He was so enthusiastic about it that she couldn't help but blush, "…It was just some spiders."

David seemed interested now though, "What else could you make appear?"

Marko caught on to the questioning, "Make some bees next or snakes! You could do those too, couldn't you?"

Before she had the chance to say no, a distinct 'pop' was heard followed by a voice; a very unhappy voice.

"What the hell am I doing on a roof?" Ginny exclaimed as she tried to find her balance after appearing on the uneven tile.

Taking in the scene before her the redhead's frown lessened but her eyes, which were mostly on Hermione, didn't look pleased at all. Still, she managed a smile as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Why wasn't I invited?"

"Gin?" It was hard to believe she was here, did that mean she figured out how to make her magic work? Oh no, did that mean she was bleeding somewhere? That might not be good…

She mouthed 'later' to her and her fellow witch just gave a nod knowing that she'd be in for an earful when later came around.

"Well since I'm here now let's get this party started!"

Hopefully, by joining the 'party' the boys didn't involve her in their plans to scare the muggles because Hermione has a feeling that Ginny would be way too good at it.


	5. Ginny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 10/28/18* Chapter beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

Ginny was fiddling with her straw while staring at the wall of the fast food joint she was currently in. It didn't have the answers she sought though. Hermione had just gone to the bathroom and, while the redhead said she'd wanted to finish her drink first, the truth was she needed some time to think. Think about the mess she'd gotten herself into. And what a mess it was.

Listening to Hermione talk about how they always had magic before made it really hit home that Ginny herself was currently powerless. It wasn't a feeling that she liked.

If that weren't enough, getting home and getting her power back relied on her ability to woo a vampire into sleeping with her and, while she was confident in her ability to do just that, there was still the pesky problem of not dying in the process… Her parents had already lost one child, as much as it pained her to think about Fred, she didn't want them to lose another.

Sighing, she stirred her drink, which was now pretty watered down by ice, with her straw. Ginny knew that they could change the movie even without their powers because the two of them were smart and determined enough to do it. But, really, why did her drunken self think it was a clever idea to add onto that? Taking a sip of her drink and cursing her luck as well as her taste in guys, she glanced over at the bathroom.

"Hermione sure is taking her sweet time…"

And now she was talking to herself her mind supplied sarcastically, before she started feeling restless and took out the straw to chug the rest of the drink. After finishing that Ginny made her way to the women's restroom.

Pushing open the door, she was surprised to not see anyone at the sinks. That only left the three stalls, one of which was open, so Ginny turned her attention to the other two, "Hermione?"

Hearing no response, she walked up to the closest one and knocked only to have it open. No one in there. Now she was worried. Shoving the door beside that one lead to the same outcome, no one was in it.

Hermione wasn't in there.

She was alone.

Ginny was close to panicking at this point.

"Calm down. I must have just missed her. She's probably back at the table." Having told herself that she left the bathroom and found that she wasn't at the table nor in the rest of the small fast food place. It didn't take more than five minutes to search everywhere it had to offer.

"Okay think Ginny," she whispered to herself.

She wouldn't have just left without her, not of her own accord. If someone tried to force her to go with them… that couldn't happen. There was no way she would've left quietly.

What other options did that leave?

Ginny decided to give the washroom another look. The second time the redhead noticed something she hadn't before. Splattered next to the sink was a small amount of blood and upon taking a closer look it seemed to be next to a piece of glass. The amount of blood wasn't worrisome, but it was her only clue. Grabbing some paper towels, she picked it up.

It was fresh obviously, and the place was almost dead tonight so it was likely Hermione's blood. But what did it have to do with her disappearance?

Even if they were no longer in their world Hermione was still Hermione and to leave her blood just laying around somewhere wasn't like her, even if it couldn't be used in spells-

"Wait… That's it! Maybe..."

Well, it was worth a try. After all this was a vampire movie so it was possible but even if her blood held magic, using it was a whole different story.

Ginny never read up on blood magic and while it seemed like something Hermione would at least know a little something about she would have never expected the older girl to try it out by herself. No, if this did work then the other witch probably did it by accident. At least Ginny hoped so because, if not, she was so going to hex her… Later, when she was sure that she could.

Magic experiments weren't really her thing but a voice that sounded suspiciously like Fred taunted her over her hesitation. She wasn't too keen on cutting herself especially with something that already had blood on it but well... Rinsing it off might not be a good idea if Hermione's blood could somehow lead her to the other girl.

"Aw, screw it."

She picked up the shard and pressed down enough to break her own skin, but nothing happened.

"Damn… didn't work." Staring at it, she frowned. "Guess I was over thinking things. Even if blood magic did work here there's no way this would lead me to Hermione."

Sighing, she put the shard of glass back into the paper towels and tossed it into the trash bin nearby before grabbing a new paper towel to stop her finger from bleeding, "Now how do I find Hermione?"

Next thing she knew the familiar sensation of apparition zinged throughout her body.

-

And just like that Ginny was back on the ground. A very uneven ground she noticed as she nearly took a tumble before coming to the conclusion that, no she was not on the ground but in fact on a- "What the hell am I doing on a roof?"

Still trying to find her balance after appearing here somehow, a mental part of her felt like cheering because she had done magic. Another part, however, wondered if that was something to be cheerful about given where said magic just made her land.

A second later, Ginny realized she was not alone, and her unhappy face brightened up, somewhat forcefully, at locating Hermione. Yes, she was glad to have found her but she was still ticked off at having to find her in the first place. Smiling at Hermione despite that, she placed her hands on her hips and decided it was showtime because for some reason unknown to her, she and Hermione were in the presences of the Santa Carla vampires.

"Why wasn't I invited?"

"Gin?" Hermione seemed to be in disbelief at her arrival. That'd make two of them. Oh right, her finger had blood on it and she dropped the paper towel during apparition… Not sure how her magic was supposed to fix the small cut, she decided to keep her hand balled up into a fist on her hips and play it cool.

Seeing Hermione's look, Ginny mouthed 'later' like was done to her previously by her fellow witch.

"Well since I'm here now let's get this party started!"

Marko spoke then, "You're a witch too? How many are there?"

Ginny giggled and replied, "How many vampires are there?"

David joined the conversation, "How did you find us?"

The redhead looked towards Hermione. "I was looking for her not you, that's just a bonus," she winked which annoyed the brunette witch.

"Can you make spiders appear out of thin air too?" The baby-faced vampire questioned.

"Spiders?" Looking over at Hermione for confirmation, the other girl blushed slightly.

Just then Paul and Dwayne also appeared on the rooftop which was slowly getting to be more crowded. Hopefully no one noticed she thought before realizing that most were still busy dealing with whatever nightmare the boys left with them while the few lucky ones were asleep still.

Ginny caught on pretty quickly and found it funny that miss Hogwarts prefect Hermione Granger was playing such pranks or any pranks really. The boys would be so jealous or at least Ron would.

"Really Hermione, spiders?" The other girl shrugged. "Come on you're more creative than that." This caused the witch to raise her eyebrows in question and Ginny smirked and replied with three words, "Skeeter and Umbridge."

The boys were watching and listening silently to the two witches in front of them, all but Marko who opened his mouth to ask a question only to be stopped by Dwayne's hand before a word could be uttered.

Hermione's eyes widened at the names mentioned and, forgetting her audience, asked, "How do you know about that?"

The how was apparent she realized as soon as she asked. Ginny simply answered with the obvious, "Ron."

"It figures…" Still, that was a completely different story, so she said as much, "That's different, though. They deserved it."

Ginny laughed, "They definitely did but I know you don't have to be feeling vindictive to get creative."

Before she could respond to that David hummed, reminding the two girls of their company, "Vindictive. She doesn't seem like the type."

It was directed towards Ginny but his eyes were on Hermione. "Yeah well, she's not easily pissed off but when she is watch out cause she's scary."

It was said seriously for the most part with only a little bit of teasing thrown in which almost made Hermione roll her eyes. Now that she was once again aware of her surroundings she didn't.

"Says the one whose brilliant at casting hexes."

Ginny smiled at that, "I have brothers. It's a necessity that I had to teach myself." That was her defense and she was sticking to it.

Paul laughed, "Sounds like we've met some pretty scary chicks tonight."

The redhead turned her attention to the vampire she has to woo and smiled, "I'm not scary. As sweet as pie really." She winked at him and grinned while she brought her hand-the one that wasn't cut up, to greet them, "Oh right where are my manners? I'm Ginny."

Instead of grabbing the hand she had extended towards him, Paul grabbed the other one surprising her before he brought it up to his mouth and kissed. He also quickly licked her cut finger.

This caused her to tense but only slightly. Hermione, however, was suddenly extremely on guard and had to hold herself back from snatching her friend's hand away. David narrowed his eyes before glancing at Dwayne. Yeah, the redhead knew what they were as well. That much was obvious.

"You're right. You are sweet. I'm Paul." With that, he dropped her hand and backed up a bit. The redheaded witch did her best to appear unaffected while being slightly flustered in truth. She managed well enough on the outside, but the accelerated heartbeat was something that the boys had picked up on.

Marko brought his hand up to bite his gloved thumb to hide his grin. He was very good at telling the difference between fear and arousal and it was mostly the latter. And from the look on Paul's face, the smaller vampire knew that he knew it too. The impish 'teen' was even pretty sure that Hermione, despite not being able to hear heartbeats, could read her friend's reaction too given how tense she still was and how she was eyeing the two of them. He thought she could be fun if she unwound a bit.

To lighten things up he introduced himself next, "I'm Marko!"

That seemed to open up the floodgates as Dwayne and David introduced themselves as well.

"Nice to meet you all. So since Hermione's here I'm guessing this isn't a boys only night and now that you've scared some helpless mug-er people what's next on the agenda?"

If they noticed her slip but didn't say anything about it. David smirked.

"How about a contest?"

The two girls look at each other. Ginny was intrigued while Hermione was more wary but seeing Marko jumping up and down in excitement like some kinda puppy dog vampire made her loosen up some.

"What kind of a contest?" Hermione asked.

"You'll see." After saying that David leapt down from the rooftops and the other boys followed.

"Um, Hermione how do we get down from here?"

The other witch sighed, "Very slowly."

"You want me to climb down? In these shoes?"

Hermione chuckled, "Better you than me. Besides aren't you always bragging about how athletic you are?"

Suddenly Ginny was jealous of the flats her friend was wearing but she wouldn't admit it. Instead, the ginger flipped her off before taking off her shoes and tossing them over the side.

"Ow! What the hell? Why did you throw shoes at me?" Marko's annoyed voice reached them.

"Hehe. Oops sorry," she called down before grinning over her shoulder at the other witch. Hermione shook her head knowing she was not sorry at all. Really, her friend was sometimes way too Gryffindor. No sense of danger.

Hermione marveled at the other girl as she easily climbed her way down in a knee-length dress. At least she had on leggings, but even if she didn't it wouldn't have stopped her. For Hermione, even wearing pants she knew that it would take longer for her to get down. She might as well get started.

Only before she could, David was suddenly back on the roof and, without asking, lifted her up and jumped down causing her arms to wrap around his neck as her eyes scrunched closed. Though, once on the ground, the witch knew in the future she shouldn't close her eyes around him as it wouldn't do to keep letting her guard down. Not if she didn't want to end up dead.

As he set her down she glared at him and his smirking face, "We don't have all night. Well okay we do, but I'm not going to waste it waiting for you."

Looking over at her friend who had just gotten down and was being handed her shoes by Paul she huffed and crossed her arms while asking, "What makes you think that I couldn't get down just as fast as Ginny?"

"If you could you already would have."

She nodded, "Okay fair point..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes continued to keep an eye on Paul and Ginny. Was this a good thing or something to worry about? Before she could decide, David drew her attention back to him by blocking her view and offering her a cigarette.

"No thanks, I don't smoke."

He tilted his head in an approximation of a nod, "Suit yourself."

"So are we walking now?" Hermione heard Ginny question and Paul answered her, "Nah, we're going to ride but we left our bikes parked up a ways a bit."

"Bikes? You mean those motorbike things? Awesome! I've never been on one of those before!"

Paul laughed and offered to let her ride with him before Marko cut in telling her how unsafe it was for someone that's never ridden to ride with Paul due to his crazy driving. That just seemed to make her more excited to ride with him.

All in all, Marko thought she was nuts. But then again she seemed to like Paul so something would have had to be loose in her head to begin with.

Hermione listened to the three of them talk, never noticing that the other two vampires were observing the interaction as well as her. Dwayne was cautious but trusted David's judgment, while said leader was waiting to make his final verdict on the girls; on these witches that had suddenly appeared in their lives.

Well, whatever the outcome, it was sure to be interesting.


	6. Heads Roll

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 10/28/18* Chapter beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

Ginny was laughing and hollering along with the boys and she was having a blast riding on the back of Paul's bike from what Hermione could tell whenever she glanced back behind her. The blonde vampire Ginny was riding with was either doing his best to show off or just plain trying to scare the redhead to death. Not that it worked… that girl either had a death wish or was an adrenaline junkie. Which, now that the brunette really gave it a decent amount of thought, both were a very good possibility.

A hand touched her own that was currently wrapped around the waist of the Lost Boys' leader. It caught her attention, so she turned her head away from watching Ginny.

"Relax. Your friend is alright. More than alright. She seems to be having the time of her life." David told her. Luckily, she was close enough to catch all of his words despite the roaring wind.

"I know she is… That's what worries me."

The last part was said in a lower tone, but his vampire hearing picked it up easily. "I'm sure she can take care of herself."

Hermione would usually agree, especially when it came to boys, but these weren't some schoolboys that Ginny was dealing with. Even the boys she 'dated' after Hogwarts weren't anything like these ones and not because they were not vampires either. Ginny never really dated a bad boy… or any boy that couldn't be brought home for a Weasley family dinner.

Not that she was looking to date the vampire but it was rare for her to shag someone she wasn't dating... Hermione was beginning to think she was thinking too hard about all this, but she still couldn't fathom her friend's fascination with Paul. It was just strange to the other witch. She wasn't like Hermione; Ginny still had a family, a nice big loving family.

"You might want to stop thinking so loud."

That jerked the witch out of her thoughts, "What? Did you… read my mind. No, that's not possible."

She didn't feel anything break through her barrier. Could things work differently for vampires? Or was it just because her magic now worked differently. Either way... She concentrated on her mental shield hoping to strengthen it.

David laughed, "Some pieces slipped through."

"What about now?" Hermione questioned him and for a moment he didn't answer. Not feeling anything trying to get passed her shield should mean he isn't trying to but does it? Shouldn't she feel something?

"No, nothing now." David eventually replied.

That was a relief but now she needed to be careful about slipping up. Who knew what he could pick out of her head if she wasn't careful. Speaking of that, what did he hear?

"So, what exactly slipped through?" The brunette witch tried to act casual with her question, though she isn't positive that it worked.

He turned his head slightly so their faces were now much too close for Hermione's comfort. He was even more attractive close up like this and if she wasn't on the back of a speeding vehicle she'd have jerked backward to avoid the closeness. Hermione steeled herself so she wouldn't react that way.

He smirked as if knowing that before answering, "Nothing important just you wondering what your little friend finds so captivating about my pal Paul back there."

Oh well, that wasn't too bad of a thing to slip… if he was telling the truth and that was all that he'd heard.

"Is that all?"

His smirk never left his face as he turned his attention back to the road giving no answer. He did that on purpose… he wanted her to stress over it but Hermione would not give him the satisfaction of doing so. After all, even if he got more than that from her she wasn't thinking anything that could be used against her.

So, she did as he suggested previously and forced herself to relax and not worry as much about Ginny. Not that she'd ever completely stop but right now she decided to pay attention to the feeling of the wind blowing through her hair. It wasn't too bad of a feeling. At least it was not due to flying as the motorbike was still on the ground even if her feet weren't. The lack of control still bothered her to an extent but not as much as it would have pre-war time.

While Hermione was having her conversation with the boys' leader, Paul was having a grand old time nearly colliding with Marko and weaving in and out of the other boys' bikes making sure to get really close, but it didn't seem to faze her.

No, she would laugh or say, "Do that again," or even, "Come on I know you can get closer than that!" He'd never rode with a chick who was this much fun before, so he obliged her.

Marko was having fun too and even Dwayne, who was the wariest of the witches, seemed to loosen up with their little game.

The drive wasn't that long, not surprising Hermione one bit given the speed that they were going. The one thing that did surprise her was when David pulled into a parking lot.

"Bowling? You want to go bowling?" She inquired while still holding onto the blonde and not getting off of the now parked bike right away due to her confusion.

He turned to her, "What's wrong with that?"

She blinked. Nothing was wrong with it it was just… this was a much more normal and safer thing than she'd expected when he mentioned a contest. He helped her off of the bike while her attention was mostly on the neon lights outside of the bowling alley.

"That was so much fun. Too bad it's over," Ginny complained also getting off of the back of a bike.

"Feel free to ride with me anytime you like," Paul winked at her and she grinned at his invite.

"I'll hold you to that."

He grinned back, "I hope you do."

Hermione shook her head and thought that maybe Ginny's part of this spell wouldn't be as big of a deal as she first thought it might be. Which would be one less thing to worry about, honestly.

"So, um, what's bowling?" All the boys turned to Ginny and looked at her as if she had grown a second head.

"You don't know what bowling is?" Marko asked bewildered.

Paul, however, gasped, "What do witches do for fun? No bikes and not even knowing what bowling is!?"

"We have quidditch!" The redheaded witch exclaimed in protest. She kept trying to prove that witches did have fun things while Marko kept trying to pronounce quidditch and butchering it to the girl's annoyance.

David glanced at Hermione as if he knows she was at least somewhat familiar with bowling given her words from earlier. So she explained the reasoning behind it, "Ginny grew up around mostly other magical people so her non-magical knowledge isn't very extensive."

The other witch huffed and nearly protested but Paul cut her off, "Don't worry I can teach you." He wrapped an arm around her waist. "I'll let you be on my team."

Hermione watched the two of them go into the bowling alley followed closely by an excited Marko."

"Looks like you're with us then," David told her as the three of them followed the others inside. Once they entered, Hermione was shocked to realize that they really were just going to go bowling.

Shocked, but relieved too.

The first thing she noticed was that they didn't pay. Instead, she watched David tell the young girl behind the counter that they'll be using aisle number three. One guy tried to get them to change their shoes, but Paul just scoffed and lead Ginny towards the aisle they were claiming and David only had to look at the worker for him to get the hint and not try to get them to change footwear again. While Hermione figured she'd be okay in her flats, she did decide to, not only give Ginny a silent idea of how to use their magic without looking like she was doing so but also, help with her potential shoe problem.

"Ginny," she grabbed her attention away from Paul who was showing her the bowling ball. "Your shoes might make you slip."

She brought her thumb to her mouth and bit down and Ginny nearly said something until she saw the small amount of blood and it occurred to her what her friend was doing. Magic. After that she looked at Ginny's shoes and then her finger and it healed due to her willing it to.

"There. You won't slip now."

The redhead nodded, not only in thanks for the shoes but, for showing her how it was that her magic worked before and how she'll need to make it work again.

It was like Hermione had said, intent mattered, especially here… All the more reason to believe that this spell was intent based the redhead thought before focusing back on the vampire before her.

Hermione made sure her thumb was blood free before she went back over to her 'team'. As it was, David was watching her and she was slightly nervous even though her thumb was no longer bleeding. The bushy-haired girl hoped he didn't think too much on their magic being blood-based as the implications could be a bad thing.

"So, I take it you've bowled before?" The lead vampire asked her and she nodded.

"Yeah, but it's been a while."

At first, it was a relatively normal experience. Well, as much as bowling with vampires could ever be considered as normal. Paul showed Ginny how to roll the ball and she caught on quickly, though she was constantly reminding Paul and Marko that they were on the same team when they tried to compete against each other and not Hermione's team.

They were also running down the aisle halfway and sometimes just sliding and hitting the pins with their bodies which wasn't really the way to play. It was fun though, and after Ginny 'cheated' as well, Hermione joined in on their unorthodox rules or lack of them.

Even without that though, Hermione wasn't doing all that bad. Her reflexes weren't like those of a vampires but she was holding her own against them making Marko eye one of her strikes and accuse her of using magic to which she told him that Ginny could be as well so it really wasn't an unfair advantage. Ginny laughed and told the boys she didn't need magic when she had so much talent.

At one point someone who worked there reluctantly brought them sodas when they asked, or in the boys case more like told them to do so, and that was how Hermione found herself taking a break long enough to grab an extra straw and use it as a hair stick to help manage her hair that was bushy and windblown from her earlier bike ride and much less manageable than usual.

"A straw, really?" Marko asked while taking a sip from his drink.

She finished pinning it up and shrugged. "Just working with what's available. Besides now I'll be able to keep it out of my face and also keep up with Ginny. She's making me look bad," the witch joked because yeah, for the most part, the redhead was doing better than her. She was also more goofing off than playing too at this point and it felt less like a contest than ever before.

David called her over so she joins him, and he handed her a ball but not before snatching the straw out of her hair much to her annoyance.

"Really?"

He tossed it backwards and smirked, "Looks better loose and free."

His look made her nervous. Was he really just talking about her hair? Hermione broke their eye contact and focused on the pins in front of her instead. She was very aware that he was now smoking a few feet behind her but did her best to tune him out… It didn't really work. She only hit two pins... he was chuckling behind her as if he was aware of the reasoning behind her distraction.

Damn cocky vampire, she thought moodily.

The girls weren't sure how long they were playing for or even who was currently in the lead despite the boy's competitive nature, and even Ginny's own. The two were just having fun.

Hermione was just surprised to actually be having fun.

Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to last.

-

The manager had been called in by his disgruntled employees. Apparently a familiar group of boys was bothering, not only the staff but, the other customers with their wild ways and they also didn't pay... again. When he approached the group about needing to leave, as they had been banned from here for months now, the two girls with them seemed agreeable, but the bleach blonde leader looked around and then at the scoreboard.

"Well, it looks like your group won Paul so… what'll it be?" His tone held humor, but his gaze was what concerned Hermione the most as she glanced over at Ginny. The girl didn't look worried but that was probably because she didn't suspect the boys would do something in a public setting. Then again it was late and most of the people had left at this point. Hermione really hoped that her gut feeling was wrong.

It wasn't.

Paul laughed and the manager threatened to call the police on them again and have them removed from the property, but it was too late.

It only took a quick lunge from Paul and a short scream before the manager's head was ripped from his shoulders and left rolling from his body to cause chaos. The three other employees and the four human bowlers panicked and tried to flee.

Ginny was the one who screamed as the manager never got the chance. Paul, who was covered in his blood all vamped out, was laughing and licking the freely sprayed blood off of his hands.

Hermione grabbed her fellow witch who couldn't move as the bowling alley dissolved into a bloodbath. The brunette dragged the two of them under a nearby table.

Marko was having a delightful time blocking the exit and playing with the humans stupid enough to run for it.

Dwayne had joined Paul in a contest of who could tear off the most heads. At least that's what it appeared like to Hermione who was watching the scene take place, unlike Ginny who had her eyes closed and ears covered shaking like a leaf. As much as the brunette witch wished for it, she didn't have the luxury to react like her fellow witch. She needed to be ready in case they were attacked and she had to stay calm if she was going to need to do a side-along apparition… Last time she panicked and performed it… Well, she wouldn't let that happen again.

Truthfully, she was inwardly berating herself for getting comfortable for even a moment with these heartless creatures. Usually, she was a fan of creatures of all kinds but this had to be the exception.

Suddenly she felt a gaze on her and searched for the source. Unsurprisingly, it was David. He was calmly standing around smoking, as if the chaos around him wasn't happening, while watching her and for some reason that frightened her more than if he'd joined in on the fun.

He smirked as if he knew that and flicked his cigarette away. Then, continuing to ignore the bloodbath, he approached the table like the predator he clearly was.

Hermione eye's darted to the entrance and saw that Marko was away from it now and playing with his 'food'. She wasn't the only one who noticed either. Ginny was waiting for a chance to make a run for it.

As the redhead wasn't going to be using her magic anytime soon, being way too freaked out, -not that Hermione wasn't. She was sadly more used to situations like this- it was up to her to confront the monster heading their way.

Ginny was able to gather herself together enough to flee outside and was trying to pull the other witch with her. When that didn't work she went herself while Marko was still distracted. Hermione barely noticed the absence of her friend as she came to stand in front of the vampire leader.

"Well Paul's team won but it doesn't look like your friend enjoyed the victory party." His eyes trailed after the girl who just made a mad dash for the entrance.

"I can't say I do either... you planned this massacre from the start didn't you?" It was less of a question and more of an accusation.

He looked around them at the scene before finding her dark eyes again. "The manager is someone Paul and I have had our grievances with for a while... It seemed like the best way to settle who got to take care of him."

Of course. It only made sense. If you have a problem with a guy you rip his head off. Sounded perfectly sane, she thought sarcastically.

"Right... and you brought us along for what reason?"

To scare them? Or was it something else... something worse?

"You said before that you weren't impressed. Change your mind yet?"

A wicked and attractive smirk crossed his face, but the witch refused to dwell on that thought or the thought that her words possibly spurred on this event. Instead she answered, "No, not impressed more like disgusted."

"Really... but you don't seem too surprised."

Hermione really wasn't she realized... Given how many times as a kid that she had watched the movie... the camera angle did a great job of not showing much of the way they fed but it still gave enough away for her to know how they truly were... And to think she'd had a crush on the monster before her as a little girl.

What was wrong with her? It being in a movie was fine. It being real suddenly made it not okay unlike before. It was reality and he was really slaughtering people.

"I knew you were killers but seeing it in person and like this... well I'm not curious anymore so if you could not slaughter people in front of me again that'd be great." More than actually. This was going to bring back her nightmares she just knew it.

He laughed, "I've never seen a reaction quite like yours. It borders on the instinct to fight, not flee, but still you're standing in a blood-soaked room talking to me." His expression was curious and that made her uneasy as anything that interested him can't lead to good things.

"I'd rather not fight you but if I have to I will. Though I wasn't the target here, collateral damage doesn't seem to bother you." She didn't take her eyes off him but motioned around the room at the poor people that happened to be said collateral damage.

He didn't say anything so she glanced at the door. It was smeared in blood as well. Not unsurprising given how many people probably ran there only to be stopped by Marko.

"I need to go find Ginny."

Before she could leave though a bloodstained Marko called out to her, "Hey can you magic this all away?"

She turned to address him just in time to see him using a head to knock down some pins and tried to keep her nearly empty stomach from rolling.

"I can but I won't. This is your mess, you clean it up." With that she left because no amount of puppy dog eyes could change her mind this time. She felt ill.

And suddenly grateful for the lack of food…

As she left she heard Marko complain as David's words followed her out, "You heard the lady. You clean it up."

David figured since it was Paul and Marko's win anyway the mess was theirs as well. When Paul tried to complain about it David just pointed to the head laying by the bloody pins that had been used as a bowling ball as one of the reasons they had to clean up the place up. There was blood everywhere and it was mostly due to them so their leader wasn't going to be the one picking up after them when he didn't even join in the fun due to it being his loss. Though for once he didn't mind so much as it gave him the ability to focus more on the two witches reaction.

Hermione did her best to settle her stomach at the sight and smell of the place as she carefully made her way around the bodies and exited the bowling alley with David and Dwayne following a ways behind her.

Outside she found Ginny who looked ready to bolt now that she was there meaning only one thing.

"You can't apparate like this you'll splich yourself if you try." Probably not the best first words after the slaughter in the bowling alley but it needed to be said.

"It's better than staying here!" She yelled.

Hermione grabbed the pacing girls arms. "Ginny calm down."

"Calm down! I'm not you Hermione. I can't pretend a bloodbath just didn't happen!" She gestured to herself, "Look I've been splattered with blood," then she motioned to Hermione, "You have too!"

It was a feeling that she had once had to become accustomed to but things were different now or at least they were supposed to be. Hermione didn't need to look at her shirt to see that but, in an effort to calm the other girl down, she bit her lip and cast a scourgify spell to remove the blood from both of them before willing her cut lip closed.

"You think that removing it can make it all go away?"

Hermione shook her head, "No but-"

Ginny cuts her off, "I can't do this. I thought I'd seen horrors, death, and the like so this should be a piece of cake but I was wrong. The way you can push it all away and focus like you are... I know you've seen... worse things than me... I'm not like you. You are someone who could lie while being tortured... but that's just not me." She told her feeling defeated.

The other witch sighed, "That's not a terrible thing Gin. I don't want you to have to be that kind of person either."

The last thing she wanted was any more of her friends getting themselves hurt.

"What, a strong person?" Ginny asked glumly.

Hermione shook her head with a frown. "No, a person who has been put in that position in the first place."

The redhead looked thoughtful, "I don't either... I just wanna go home."

Before Hermione could comment a voice called out to them.

"So are you girls walking, apparating, or riding?"

Hermione didn't look back at David instead, she looked at Ginny who she was trying to reason with through her eyes. Telling her that they couldn't run from this. That if they wanted to go home there was only one way to do that and it meant spending time with the vampires behind them.

Ginny thought that maybe she could find the courage inside her to do that but the second part she wasn't so sure of any longer... Paul terrified her.


	7. Unbreakable Blood Vow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 10/28/18* Chapter beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

Ginny, despite Paul's earlier invite to ride with him whenever, chose instead to ride with Dwayne on the way back mostly because she'd seen more of the other two killing people and he was the least bloody. Paul pouted when she picked Dwayne and spent the ride trying to mess with them, probably trying to make her act like she had during the ride earlier.

It didn't work as she remained deadly silent.

Hermione once again rode with David. Her own actions, however, mirrored her previous ride as she kept looking back to check on Ginny. The leader of the Lost Boys said nothing about it this time and in no time the group was back at the cave. Ginny, having only seen it in the movie, was curiously looking around though she made sure to stay close to Hermione's side ready to flee at a moment's notice.

Ginny noticed a little boy lying down in Star's bed and figured it was the one from the movie but for the life of her she couldn't recall the kid's name. It did make her wonder where Star was at the moment and if the kid had a story... It wasn't stated in the movie so did any of them really know their background? This whole movie made real thing was weird.

"Well, the night is nearly over… and now we have a problem." David's voice pulled the redhead from her inner ramblings.

Hermione thought she knew where this was going and wondered why she didn't think of it sooner. "We know where you sleep, that's the problem isn't it?"

David just smirked but didn't respond to her question. Instead, he looked to Dwayne and the other boys before asking, "So what should we do about it?"

"Kill them?" The dark-haired vampire shrugged making the redheaded witch tense up. But she glanced at Hermione and calmed down because the other didn't look scared.

"Aww, do we really have to?" Marko whined. Paul looked over at them thoughtfully but then looked back at his leader and shrugged not seeming to care either way despite his earlier flirting with Ginny.

"Well if you're casting a vote I'd like to get one," Hermione told him in a slightly sarcastic way and David laughed, "Would you now?"

The cave was as silent as the dead and Hermione was more than ready to apparate. With how close Ginny was sticking she was confident the two of them could leave before the boys attacked them if they end up choosing to do so. Unfortunately, Hermione was beginning to think that they truly might. Maybe agreeing to ride back with them after the bowling alley hadn't been the best course of action after all.

Ginny blurted out something then, "An Unbreakable Vow!"

Hermione looked startled and glanced at the girl beside her while the boys look confused.

"What's that?" Marko asked with a tilt of his head.

The brunette witch decided to answer him, "It's a magical promise that can't be broken… so, for example, if we promised not to harm you while you sleep then we wouldn't be able to."

"Just like that. You promise something and then have to keep it?" Dwayne asked looking suspicious.

"Well no. If I said it without the spell being cast then nothing would happen… it takes at least two witches or wizards to cast. Which we do have."

"That's convenient," Paul added.

"You think we're lying?" Hermione's question was mostly directed at David as he was the one who had the final say since Max was unaware of the situation right now.

David eventually asked, "How exactly does an Unbreakable Vow work?" His tone of voice gave nothing away to tell if he thought they were lying or not.

"One of us would recite the spell while the other would be making the promise. That person would hold onto the other person's hand or well the wrist would work too…" She added after Marko snickered about 'hand-holding, "so holding onto the wrist of the person they're making the promise to, which would be one of you, while that person does the same; hold the others wrist I mean. Then after the person finishes reciting the spell the one making the promise says, 'so mote it be' to accept the promise they made."

"You know if you just wanna hold hands you don't have to make up-" Hermione glared at Paul and him and Marko snickered again.

"You left out the most important part…" Ginny whispered and the brunette sighed. The other witch must really wanna do this… If they did, though, the wording would need to be very careful. Also, this would be more of an Unbreakable Blood Vow… which was once again blood magic and she could only hope that it worked exactly like a normal Unbreakable Vow.

David raised an eyebrow, "What part did you leave out?"

"The person who makes the vow can't break it because if they do… They die."

Paul whistled and Dwyane looked suspicious again, "Seems like a big thing to leave out."

"Well truthfully, I didn't think you lot would go for it either way. After all, it's too convenient, right?"

David hummed, "You don't want to make it do you?"

Hermione thought about her words carefully before speaking, "No I don't, but not because I plan to harm you. If I'm not very careful with my wording then if something does happen to any of you then my own life could be forfeit and given that I'm not suicidal I don't tend to want to make such serious promises."

Not to mention if worded wrong then she could be powerless to defend herself against an attack from them too. Hermione caught her fellow witch's look and added, "But I'll do it anyway if that clears everything up."

Ginny looked ready to speak up again, probably to offer to be the one to make the vow, but Hermione grabbed her hand and hoped she got the message. It may have been her idea but if anyone was going to risk it, it would be her whether the redhead liked it or not.

The girl looked put out and they'd probably be arguing about this later but at least she didn't want to start anything while surrounded by vampires.

David looked thoughtful before surprising them all, "Alright let's make this vow."

-

So that was how Hermione found herself going over the phrasing of the promise for the next few minutes. It ended up being as follows; "I, Hermione Jean Granger, do hereby swear that both myself and Ginevra Molly Weasley will not, in any way, intentionally harm, through ourselves or through others, the vampires of this cave during the day, so mote it be."

They went over many different versions such as 'when the vampires sleep/rest' but Dwayne pointed out all the had to do was wake them during the day and take them out when they were still groggy. Hermione specifically made sure 'intentionally' was in there because if something accidental happened for some out there reason… She wasn't looking to die, thanks.

They didn't know if names would work without last names so 'the vampires of this cave' came into play. Paul claimed not to remember his last name and Marko didn't want to tell his and the other two were no help. Not that it mattered as in the end they had something that was usable. Though the whole last name debate made Ginny wonder about her earlier thoughts, did they actually have a past... If not how could they not notice?

Speaking of names though... When they found out Ginny's full name Paul and Marko had a field day and wouldn't stop calling her by it. It seemed to break some of the ice that had formed between Paul and Ginny because she was currently glaring daggers at him for using her full name again. He was just as immature as her brothers. If he wasn't hot he would have been unbearable. The name teasing was momentarily halted to perform the spell and Paul produced a pocket knife which he gave to Ginny so that she could cut her finger and Hermione's when she spoke the spell. Hermione had wanted to just bite her lip or something but that might mess with the wording, so she relented to Ginny using the knife.

With that, she was holding David's hand and it was cold, like she expected, but not terribly so. Though the snicker of Marko and Paul's taunting 'hand-holding' rang in the background she just rolled her eyes. She would not blush because that would be ridiculous. Seeing as her hand was in a vampire's she gave the one not holding David's own to be cut once Ginny was ready, this was when both girls, despite feeling the magic swelling up during the spell, realized something.

A little cut on both their fingers wasn't going to work and when the light Hermione told them about didn't appear at the end, Hermione sighed, "We have to do it again... it didn't take."

David looked between the girls as he watched their silent exchange. They were worried about something. This was all very new and entertaining to him.

The first one to speak was, strangely enough, a curious Marko, "Why not? Cause we're vampires?"

"No, it's not that…" Ginny said before looking to the other girl because she didn't want to let on just how much they didn't know about their own magic as of now. Hermione was also going to have to wing it, but she was sure they were right in their guess. An Unbreakable Vow required more magic thus more blood… and around vampires too. Just their luck. Still, Hermione had used an imperius curse with just a drop so what determined how much a spell or curse would need? That was something to consider at a later point.

"We've never cast this spell but all adult witches and wizards know how to… basically. Turns out this spell is going to take a bit more magic… so that means more blood than we thought so um, do you mind holding your breath or something?"

Marko laughed, Paul looked intrigued having had a slight taste of Ginny's earlier that night, and Dwayne raised an eyebrow and looked towards their leader before speaking. "Well, David might have a problem but we've all ate tonight."

That caused Ginny to tense as she recalled them 'eating' and glanced over to Paul who smiled at her in a way that was probably supposed to reassure her, but didn't.

"Okay come on. We need to do this now. The sun is nearly up," Hermione reminded them.

Ginny snapped back to attention and they started over. This time the redhead cut her arm with only a slight grimace of pain, instead of just pricking her finger, and then she did the same to the other witch's arm who was better at hiding her pain. It made Ginny only somewhat jealous. She brought their arms together in hopes of having their bloods' magic mix and become strong enough to pull off the spell.

It worked and a red light appeared in a string like fashion around David and Hermione's hands before it disappeared. Ginny pulled her own arm away quickly willing it to heal. It did, much to her relief because she was suddenly very tired. Was that normal? The younger witch wasn't sure but Hermione and her needed to discuss their magic more. But first, sleep was a thing that they both needed.

"There it's done…" The brunette girl told them not noticing her friend's sudden lack of energy while taking her hand back from the vampire. His eyes were on her other hand though which still had blood running down it from the cut Ginny made. Hermione was pretty sure the cut was deeper than the one the other girl made on her own arm but it made sense… Cutting oneself made that person aware of the pain whereas cutting someone else didn't.

It probably didn't help that Hermione had a unusually high pain tolerance. Just as the witch started to concentrate on closing up her wound, the hand that had been holding hers just seconds before grabbed her bleeding arm and before she could react David had it up to his mouth taking a taste.

Ginny's gasp was only drowned out by Hermione's own. It surprised her, though it shouldn't have as the words 'Dwayne did warn you,' were spoken by someone. But the girl's mind wasn't focusing the way it should so the words meant nothing. It really should have bothered her more that a vampire was licking her arm, that David was tasting her blood, but it didn't. She was allowing it to happen. Her eyes were following his tongue and his tongue was following the cut up her arm.

Hermione's eyes caught his own. He was watching her.

Her eyes locked with his then and the trance was only broken a few seconds later when Ginny got her wits together and called out her name, "Hermione."

Then he pulled away and she automatically took an unsteady stepped back.

Her actions or rather inactions scared her.

What was wrong with her?

The cave was eerily quiet and a quick look away from David showed that it was just him and Ginny still left in there. Well them and a still sleeping Laddie… the others must have gone deeper into the cave.

"The sun's nearly up. You'd better go otherwise you'll be in even more danger," David's tone was teasing and the glint in his eyes scared her just as much as it intrigued her.

Without any more prompting needed Hermione grabbed her friend's hand, and since her cut was not yet healed and was still bleeding a bit, apparated them both out of there.


	8. The Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 10/28/18* Chapter beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

They promptly landed and nearly fell over inside of the abandoned building that they slept in the night before.

"Hermione!?" Ginny yelled out steadying the other girl, "Honestly! What were you thinking?"

"…I wasn't." She grabbed a hold of Ginny's arm trying to wait out the dizziness.

"Obviously! He could have killed you!" Ginny realized quickly that her friend wasn't listening. "Oh bloody hell." Bloody was right the redhead thought upon seeing Hermione's still bleeding arm. "Hermione you need to heal your arm like right now." The girl in question muttered her agreement but nothing happened. "Hermione?"

"I'm trying... it's not working."

The brunette was staring at her arm like it offended her so Ginny quickly nicked her finger with the knife she had gotten from Paul and proceeded to heal her friend. Once the cut sealed itself back together Ginny let out a sigh of relief and healed herself, feeling even more fatigued. One look at Hermione and she knew that sleep wasn't on the menu at the moment. "Come on you need a drink."

"I'm never drinking again," Hermione deadpanned causing Ginny to roll her eyes.

"I meant water, come on." The younger girl pulled the arm she still held to get the older girl to follow her. "We need to make sure you stay hydrated."

"Yeah… water is good." The brunette let herself be dragged but mumbled, "Sleep would be even better."

Ginny heard her words but ignored them. Sure all she wanted to do was sleep but the last thing they needed was Hermione getting sick. So water first, then sleep, and then she'd totally be chewing her friend out. Really, the redhead never thought she'd be getting onto Hermione Granger, of all people, about thinking things through. Honestly, who lets a vampire feed on them like that… Sure it wasn't a bite but it could've been. It might as well have been.

Ginny had a headache from all this so for now she pushed it to the side and focused on getting the water. Water then sleep. Everything else could wait… okay, not really but it would have to, because pulling an all-nighter with barely any sleep the night before that was just asking for them to make stupid decisions.

Like Hermione offering her arm up on a silver platter to a freakin' vampire. Ginny shook her head and reminded herself that she wasn't going to think about it that. Of course, that didn't work out very well but at least she got Hermione some water. Fluids were important, the redhead thought, watching the sunrise before once again taking hold of the other girl and leading her to a semi-empty building to sleep. Semi because there was someone asleep in the corner, or at least the younger of the two hoped they were sleeping, but at this point she was too tired to really care.

Another thing she'd deal with in the morning er- when she woke up.

Hermione fell asleep fast but Ginny's mind, whether it was due to sharing the area with some unknown possibly dead person or the events of the previous night, was racing. She fell into a restless sleep two hours later only to be awakened four hours after that by Hermione.

"Gin come on wake up."

The girl groaned and shoved the hand shaking her away, "Five more minutes."

Hermione rolled her eyes as the other witch drifted back to sleep. The brunette decided to cast a muggle repellent spell on the sleeping girl and wrote in the dirt 'be back soon getting lunch.'

Hermione wasn't sure if that was accurate but at least she knew breakfast had passed. With that, she stood up, casting a scourgify on her clothes, and patted her hair hoping it wasn't the nest that she imagined it to be and then left to get them something to eat. Walking the boardwalk helped not only to fully wake her but moving helped the soreness which came from two nights of sleeping on the ground. Even when she was on the run with Harry and Ron she mostly slept comfortably thanks to magic and while she could've slept alright last night due to having access to said magic the witch had been too exhausted to even think about cushioning the ground.

Not that it mattered. For some reason her magic didn't want to respond after she apparated away, but she was still bleeding. What did that mean? Was she simply too tired to focus or was there another reason?

All this new stuff, dealing with blood magic, made her want to rush to a bookstore and buy a book about the subject but that wasn't possible. Instead, she was going to have to learn through trial and error which was more Harry's style than hers. Luckily, she had learned how to improvise quite well herself after all the years of being Harry's best friend.

Lost in thought, she made it to a fast food joint and gazed absentmindedly at the menu. Things so were different in America… things were different in the eighties. Throw them together and Hermione had no idea what was a good choice for lunch.

In the end, she decided, when all else failed, a burger and fries were still the same no matter the time period or country so with her bag of greasy food she headed back to the abandoned building where Ginny had been sleeping when she left. Once she arrived, the witch found the other girl still fast asleep not having moved an inch.

"Wake up. I've brought greasy goodness." She nudged the girl with her foot but the redhead just told her to go away. "Alright but I doubt it gets any better when it's cold."

Grumbling, Ginny sat up and glared.

"Oh how terrifying," the older witch said reaching into the bag to grab a wrapped burger and tossing it at the other girl who caught it but didn't lessen her glare. "I hope my hair's not as bad as yours seeing as I was out in public," Hermione teased.

That did the trick. The younger girl quickly dropped the glare to start trying to manage her hair.

"Come on Gin at least eat first. No one can see your bedhead expect for me here."

She huffed in response but grabbed the burger out of her lap and unwrapped it, "Is this it?"

Hermione shook her head. "No there's some fries too, here." The girl reached back into the bag and took out a salad before handing over the bag with the fries inside of it.

"Why did I get fries and you got a salad?"

"Because I was the one who went and got our lunch. Next time, if you want something different then you'll just have to wake up and go get it."

Ginny frowned but ate her food anyway. It wasn't her mom's homemade breakfast like she was used to or even Hogwarts quality either, but she was hungry, so it worked.

Hermione didn't usually eat muggle fast food either but even she had to admit that this was better than most fast food she'd tried in the past or rather future. Did people get it right when saying that things used to taste better? Or was it her knowledge that things supposedly tasted a certain way that transferred into this world once it was created? Did it even matter? …There were bigger things to be concerned about than the quality of her food.

"So today would be the day where Michael sleeps the day away," Hermione told her fellow movie time-traveler after swallowing a mouthful of her burger before setting the greasy thing down on its wrapper. Ginny shoved another fry in her mouth but didn't reply so the brunette continued, "We did pretty much the same thing. If the script stays the same he'll wake up at two this afternoon and it's just after one right now."

Still no response from the eating girl, "That means that he'll wake up to his mom asking him to stay home tonight with his brother meaning we have a whole day or, well, the rest of the day to plan things better than we have been so far."

The girl snorted and Hermione frowned and opened her salad wondering if the girl was being grumpy due to having just been woken up. "So that also means tonight that the boys drive around Michael's house to scare him and Sam… After that both of them find out what Michael is after he tries to eat his brother but fails."

Ginny added nothing to the other witch's surprise so she kept talking while absent-mindedly mixing her salad with the plastic fork she'd just unwrapped.

"That bath part will still happen but when Sam sees Michael's reflection he shouldn't jump straight to the idea of vampires without the comic book, which hopefully we prevented him from getting." She paused to take a bite of her salad. It wasn't the best but certainly not the worst either. She swallowed then continued.

"If so and the flying scene happens, I don't see why he wouldn't let his brother inside his window. So I think for now we need to focus on the Lost Boys. What did they get up to besides scaring Michael tonight?" Hermione poked at the little tomatoes with her fork while waiting for the other's response.

"They probably ate people, like last night when they slaughtered everyone and then you handed over your arm to be a chew toy for an undead monster," Ginny said annoyed and the other girl sighed and set her fork down to try and make eye contact with her friend.

"So that's what's wrong with you. I told you I wasn't thinking."

Ginny threw her wrapper on the ground frustrated. "That's obvious but really Hermione I don't care if you were tired or whatever. You need to be on guard with them at all times you should know that!"

"I do!"

"Then act like it and don't go making goo-goo eyes at a monster. I don't care how hot he is when his real face is hidden. You know what he is- what they are!"

Hermione decided not to say anything more and let her rant because she looked like she needed it.

"We can't forget what they are. That wasn't just feeding to survive like an animal. That was the stuff insane human beings do… the kind of things a Death Eater would do," Ginny stressed.

Hermione couldn't deny that there were similarities.

"Only some Death Eaters actually had a conscience. These things don't… you can see that can't you?" Ginny asked and Hermione sighed.

"…What does it matter what they feel or don't? They're only temporarily real and we have to keep them alive no matter what we personally think so that we can get back home."

"You don't have to tell me that." The redhead looked away, "I know we have to make sure that they survive and that I have to- I know that."

Hermione didn't have anything to add to that. She kind of wished Ginny hadn't seen that scene last night, if only to make it easier on her, but at the same time at least now she'll be more wary. But Paul would also know that she was and that wasn't a productive way of getting into bed with someone-

Hermione's eyes widened. "Tonight Michael sleeps with Star."

Ginny snorted, "Way to change the subject."

Not really, the older witch thought but decided not to open that can of worms by saying it.

"When they have sex where are the Lost Boys?" Hermione asked and the other girl shrugged.

"Killing somebody probably."

The brunette shook her head in exasperation, "No they're at Max's place."

Ginny furrowed her brow in confusion, "What?"

"The scene that makes you think that Max is innocent and that they're going to attack him after his date… Which may or may not have Lucy running out on him tonight. Either way the boys will go to his house and they most likely went to talk about the Emersons."

"Emerson?" Ginny asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ginny did you even pay attention to the movie?"

"I was drunk, or at least on my way to it, so excuse me if certain things went over my head," Ginny said as she started to run her fingers through her hair like a brush.

Hermione sighed, "…Right, well Michael's last name is Emerson so the meeting they have, or more like are going to have, will probably be about his family and maybe even us now."

Ginny's fingers paused as she looked thoughtful, "You think they'll tell Max about us?"

"Well, he is the head vampire…" The bushy-hair girl said matter-of-factly.

"Sure, but how close could they really be? I mean you saw how he acted when they died. He was all ready to replace them," the girl pointed out as her fingers unfroze.

"You said yourself that they don't have any morals," the older witch reminded her.

"I know that, and I stand by it, but they do seem to have at least a little loyalty between them… You have to have noticed given how many times you've seen the film."

"That's true… so you think they're not loyal to Max?" Hermione questioned.

Ginny shrugged, "Can't say for sure but it's possible they keep him on a need to know basis."

"…Maybe but we've not seen enough interaction to know for sure, so we can't discount the fact that they might tell him and if they do that's an unknown; another one." She sighed again before continuing, "I have no idea how Max will react to us."

"Well, then. I guess we just have to plan around him for now then. It's all we can do," the redhead concluded.

"…I suppose you're right. Then all that's left to do is to decide on our course of action for tonight." Hermione looked thoughtful, considering all the events of the night. Lucy and Max's date, should they interfere with that or had their actions already changed it? Would they finish their date?

What about Sam? Should they stop him from seeing his brother's mirror trick? Then what about Star and Michael's night together... How much would change if he didn't go to her for answers? Not much that Hermione could imagine since she didn't tell him anything.

"Well I, for one, am good with avoiding the boys especially if they're meeting the big guy himself. So that just leaves the Frogs, Sam, Michael, their mom who is ruled out due to the said mentioned big guy and Grandpa," she listed them off on her fingers which had finally stopped being used as her hairbrush.

"Grandpa?" Hermione asked.

"Well he knows what's up, so I thought we should at least think about him."

The brunette agreed with the suggestion, "I guess but given that he kills one of them…"

"He kills Max and, correct me if I'm wrong, we're here to save the Lost Boys. He doesn't fit in that category so if someone dusts him I can't say I'd be sad about it." Ginny could say that about any of them really but given how they were her ticket home well, for that reason they had to live. Or live as much as an undead person could anyhow.

"…Maybe," Hermione muttered not convinced.

Without the others getting killed though it wasn't likely that he'd die because whether they liked him or not he was their head. So they'd have to protect him. At least she'd imagine that they would. Hermione was just beginning to wonder how much vampire lore from her world could be used here.

"Given the option though I choose to interfere with Michael," Ginny said off-handedly.

"Oh, why's that?"

The redhead grinned, "Mostly to cock-block him because I can. And who shows the so-called vampire hunters to the guys? If we can make him not want to kill them, which I know is an impossible task, then maybe all we have to do is get him to turn and bam!" She slapped her hands together. "Problem solved."

"Just like that?" Hermione asked.

"Sure just like that. No half-vampire Michael, no reason to try and kill the head vamp to cure himself because there is no cure."

Hermione could see the potential but there was one thing, or rather person, Ginny didn't consider, "What about Star?"

The younger girl laughed, "What about her?"

"Yeah you're right. She's spineless and not likely to try fighting back but if she sees the guy she's chosen as her last chance join them... what if she gets it into her mind to lead some vampire hunters there herself?"

"You really think she would?" Ginny asked curiously.

"No, not really but if this world really does fight to keep the original plot then someone would have to lead the way for stake-happy muggles to keep said plot to the script."

Of course, the world fighting to stay on track was just a theory too. That's all she really had; theories.

"That could happen but everything we've talked about leads to maybes so why not just vamper-ize Michael and see the results that it leads to? If you have to just cast a protection spell on the cave afterward," Ginny summarized her own previous thoughts.

"…Or I could do that, to begin with, and avoid them staking Marko," Hermione countered.

"Yeah, but if they went out of it they could still get dusted, or in Paul's case melted, so that would only give them protection while they slept. And oh, geez there we go again with all the maybes, coulds, and mights. Let's not over think this Hermione. We need to pick something and stick with it otherwise we'll continue to talk ourselves in circles."

The bushy-haired girl's eyes closed. Ginny was right. They would get nowhere trying to predict every possible outcome. This might be more stressful than the Horcrux hunt or maybe she had just forgotten what it was like to second guess and analyze every single action that she-they take.

"…Okay, let's see if we can get Michael to change fully, maybe tonight," Hermione said in agreement and the other girl smiled.

"Sounds good but what about the train track scene?"

"What about it?" Hermione asked confused.

"If Michael turns will they still dangle from the tracks?"

"Gin that was supposed to happen last night," the brunette told her.

"Wait, what?" Ginny pouted, "You mean I missed it?"

Hermione's eyes would roll out of her head with how much she'd been doing it lately. Of all the stupid things to worry about.

"There was nothing to miss. I interrupted right after he drank the blood." Wait. Did erasing that moment do any damage to the groups' male bonding? Hopefully not. It couldn't have been that important of a scene if it was avoided so easily.

"You mean you deleted the best scene in the movie?" Ginny whined.

Hermione was wondering if Ginny was being deliberately silly to try and lighten the mood or if she really upset about it, "…Really? That was your favorite part?"

Ginny agreed, "Yeah… You should've waited until afterward."

"Okay. Next time I accidentally apparate somewhere I'll just insist they go jump off train tracks before I enter the scene," she said sarcastically.

"You do that," Ginny said in a serious tone but her eyes were laughing.

Yeah, it was to lighten the mood.

"Anyway, let's not sit around in this decrepit old building all day. We need to get out amongst the living and we also need to freshen up and maybe get some new clothes."

Hermione looked on in disbelief. "New clothes?"

"I may come from a poor family but even I never had to wear the same outfit more than one day in a row without washing it and I'm not about to start now. If we have to I'm sure we can find a used clothing store. Muggles have those too right?"

Hermione just shook her head with a huff, "Yes they do."

Maybe it was a good thing Ginny hadn't come along when they went on the run. She could only imagine the kind of arguments they'd have had about something as unnecessarily dangerous as acquiring new clothes.

"You know there is a spell for-"

"Nope we're getting something else. I'll still wear the jacket though, so I can use the spell on that."

Not wanting to argue about it the other witch followed, "What about transfiguration? Maybe you could just do an easy color change. It'd save money."

Ginny glared over her shoulder, "No thanks."

Hermione gave up. She'd just have to deal with the other girl's vanity for a bit. It was no big deal except for the whole money thing. Wait. She paused coming to the realization that transfiguration could make them some money. While she wouldn't usually do that sort of thing, this world would cease to exist sooner rather than later so maybe she could overlook the wrongness of it. Besides she'd done worse than make some fake money.

Just as she was about to bring up her new idea Ginny spoke, "Oh, and Hermione it does matter what you think of them, temporarily real or not… You should remember that they're no better than those you fought a war against. To them, humans are what muggles and muggle-borns were to Death Eaters."

Hermione closed her mouth no longer thinking about their money situation.

"Look the boardwalk is right ahead. Let's go find a bathroom to freshen up in."

The redhead picked up her speed at the thought of getting cleaned up but Hermione didn't hurry after her.

Was Ginny right? Were the vampires here essentially the same things as Death Eaters?

-

After pushing aside certain thoughts, Hermione mentioned her idea to just transfigure money and Ginny was surprisingly okay with it and, in the older witch's opinion, went overboard.

"Really Gin? When are you gonna have time to wear all of this?" She gestured towards the shopping bags full of clothes. "

I know we'll only be here a few more days but having options never hurts."

"Okay fair enough but where exactly are you going to put it all? I mean our current residence doesn't have a usable closet."

Ginny grinned and pointed at a building near the beach. "No but our new one does."

The brunette's eyes followed her finger, "A hotel?"

The redhead nodded enthusiastically, "Yup!"

"Ginny you know we can't make the transfigured item hold long enough for that to work. Maybe for one night if we're lucky."

"True but your transfiguration idea gave me one of my own, see." She held up a card. A credit card.

Hermione grabbed it, "This looks and feels real, but it won't work. The numbers-"

"Good thing it's an exact copy of somebody else's apart from the name then, huh?" Ginny snickered smugly.

"How-no when did you get your hands on some else's card?"

"I wasn't just trying on clothes earlier. So let's get a room! I'm dying for a real bath."

The bushy-haired girl reminded herself that identity theft in a world that was only temporary wouldn't really affect someone in the long run so she grudgingly went with it. "Fine but one of us needs to create an ID with this person's name," Hermione paused to look at the name and was grateful it was a woman's name, "Iris Hale."

"Okay Hermione, or should I say Iris? Hurry it up. I can hear the shower calling my name."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Not that simple. I have no idea what American IDs in the eighties look like, so that shower will just have to keep calling you until I find out."

Ginny groaned, "Can't we just summon someone's ID and be done with it?"

"Sure, if you wanna explain to the people who witness a flying piece of plastic the reason that it's flying."

"The wind?" Ginny suggested with a coy grin.

Hermione gave her a look of irritation. "Come on. You got a hold of the credit card to make a realistic copy without notice. I'm sure between the two of us we can see what an ID looks like."

"Yeah… but I really want to wash my hair now," the redhead whined as she tugged on a piece of her limp hair to emphasize her point.

"Well, the sooner you stop complaining the sooner your hair will get washed."

Hermione turned and walked away having said that. The ginger followed but she wasn't happy about it and made it known quietly so as not to hamper their chances of sneakily snagging an ID from someone temporarily.

-

Ginny was probably happier than she'd been since she arrived in this weird and awful place as the young witch was now freshly showered and dressed in a sexy but comfortable set of PJs atop of a real bed. Yes, she was just about in heaven for the moment as she laid stretched out on her stomach flipping through the telly channels mindlessly.

Hermione, who had just exited the bathroom to find her friend lounging around in her PJs, nearly scolded her for it but ultimately didn't because they still had a couple hours left until they needed to get to Michael's house. Relaxing was probably a good idea to help de-stress themselves.

Without further ado the brunette followed suit and dressed comfortably but also in clothes suitable to go out in. It was similar to what she wore the previous night because there was no telling what would happen in the later part of the night.

For now though, the girl sat down with her new brush in front of the mirror. After two nights sleeping in the dirt and having ridden on the back of a motorcycle the witch could tell her hair wasn't happy with her. Magic could only accomplish so much. It was times like this that she wished for her wizarding world hair products, or at least muggle ones from the late nineties instead of the things Ginny bought for her.

Her brown eyes flicked to the cans of hairspray but away again just as fast. She didn't need volume or something to make her hair anymore uncontrollable than it already was. Ginny wasn't wrong about her hair fitting in here but still old habits and all.

"Let me do it."

Hermione nearly jumped as the other snuck up behind her. "What?"

"Your hair. I'll fix it up for you." The redhead gestured to the other girl's hair to emphasize her words.

"You mean you'll make it even more eighties-like," Hermione shot back.

"Well, I don't know if that's possible," she joked causing the older girl to contemplate the wisdom in allowing it before giving in.

"Fine... do whatever." Hermione held out the hairbrush to her and the girl happily took it before also grabbing the bag of hairspray.

"Don't go overboard though," she warned with a stern expression, hoping it had the same effect as her favorite professor. Judging by the gleeful and mischievous look in the redhead's eyes it didn't.

"Of course, don't worry. I know what I'm doing," she reassured her.

"Somehow, I'm not reassured," Hermione deadpanned.

"Oh, shush. You'll love it when I'm finished," the girl stated confident of her abilities.

Love it was quite a bold promise but by the time she was finished over an hour later Hermione decided that she didn't hate it.

-

The two witches found themselves outside of Michael's house just before dark, having decided to both wait it out and see if the Lost Boys showed up to do their intimidating bike show as well as see if their magic could hide them from said boys. Hopefully it would, because that would not only be a good thing to know but it would certainly move their plan along in the way they wanted it to. Who knew how the boys would react to the two of them hanging around outside the dwelling of their newest addition to their little vampire gang.

Watching the sun go down in silence with each other was a first but it wasn't a bad one. Still, after the colors faded and the stars appeared Ginny started to grow bored, she'd spent many long hours looking at the stars in Astronomy class after all.

Hermione passed her time by mentally naming the constellations while her fellow time-traveler dozed lightly against her shoulder only to be jolted awake when the sounds of motorbikes hit her ears.

She caught Hermione's eyes and held them for a moment until laughter and shouts, along with bright headlights, filled the area. It was actually scarier in person than just watching it through a scene the redhead decided, while gripping the other girl's arm a bit too tightly. The older witch didn't complain. It unnerved her too.

Soon it was over, and the pair looked towards the door to see Michael looking outside unaware that they were there. In fact, he was also unaware that the vampires were watching his every move as well before the door closed.

Ginny nearly spoke but the other girl's hand quickly covered her mouth because, while the spell seemed to be holding right now, who knew if that extended to their voice. Better not have to find out.

Hermione's eyes darted around because, while she didn't see them, she was sure that they were still there. The witch didn't know how but she just knew it. Ginny stared at her curiously and then looked around. She didn't see or feel anything unusual and was starting to wonder if it was just the other girl being paranoid.

Then the hand pressing itself against her mouth fell away. "They're gone."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "I can see that."

Hermione looked at her and then vaguely wondered why the other girl didn't notice what she did but shrugged it off as left-over instincts from the war and instead asked, "Okay, so you know the plan now, right?"

"Yeah, apparate inside and grab Michael after he drops the milk but before he goes all 'grr' on his kid brother. Then drop him in an area with humans and watch him eat them from a distance… Man this is messed up."

"It is, but it was also your idea," Hermione reminded the paling girl.

"I didn't think we'd have to watch it though!" Ginny said for the umpteenth time.

"It's the only way to know for sure if it worked."

"I know and that's the only reason I'm agreeing to be that close to a vampire buffet again."

Ginny wanted this night to be over with already. At least she had a nice bed ready for her by the end of it. Even so, after tonight even a bed might not help her sleep. So far she hadn't really had any nightmares so that was something. How long it would last the girl couldn't say.

Hermione grabbed the redhead's arm and with a bite to her lip and a slight taste of blood she and Ginny appeared in Sam's room. They'd thought it through and decided even if he was unfortunately in there at the time that he'd be the easiest to cast a memory charm on.

Luckily for them, he wasn't so the two girls looked around the room.

It was the same as the movie from the posters to the comic books lying about, even the vampire comic was there. Wait… Hermione's eyes widened.

"Ginny look!" She quickly snatched up the comic off of the bed and showed the other girl.

"How'd he get this?" The younger girl was equally perplexed.

"I don't know… could we have missed some. Maybe they keep extras in the back or behind the counter. I should've thought of that. There's even a phone number written on the back," Hermione said beating herself up.

"How he got it isn't important. What is, is that he no longer has it."

With that Ginny took it from her and rolled it up and sticking it inside of the purse she insisted on carrying for the night because it matched her outfit. Hermione had thought it'd be more of a hindrance before but now it proved useful.

"Downstairs next?" Ginny asked getting a nod in return.

The two quietly stepped into the hallway and slowly made their way past the bathroom door. From the off-key singing they could safely assume that they're about where they wanted to be at.

Peering down the stairs, neither saw Michael yet but it was only a matter of time. A scratching sound made Ginny quietly swear and whisper about the dog, so the two hurried down the stairs as fast and quietly as they could only to see Michael come into view as they neared the bottom.

Instead of asking them who they are and what they were doing in his house like most teenagers, he was completely consumed by instinct. His whole posture radiated an intense aura like that of a hungry predator.

Hermione was the first to react out of the three of them. She quickly grabbed both Ginny's arm and the half vampire's and side-along apparated with the both of them to a beach and, once there, let go of Michael's arm. He was a bit dazed from the strange method of travel but even out of it he was hungry looking. He jumped at the first food source available, which was them, only to miss when Ginny pulled Hermione back just enough to avoid the now feral Michael. The brunette witch used apparation again to make them appear much farther away but still in seeing distance.

All the while, the group of beach people who had previously been partying and had witnessed this were confused. They didn't know how to react or were too drunk to react correctly. That is until Michael latched onto the closest one in a hungered frenzy and started to feed for the first time.

Ginny looked away and stuttered, "S-see easy solution we'll be home in no time." The screams made her flinch and tug at Hermione. "It worked so let's go."

The brunette shook her head, "Some of the people are getting away."

"Good for them," Ginny told her but didn't stop her tugging, "let's follow their example."

"The ones that get away need to have their memories wiped."

Ginny laughed in a hollow tone, "Really? You're worried about secrecy in this world too?"

"Until we can leave we need to keep up appearances. You go back to the hotel. I'll make sure to erase the witnesses' memories."

Ginny shook her head, "You're totally crazy! That vampire over there is bloodthirsty and will try to eat you if we stick around."

"Probably," Hermione bit her lip and looked at her friend. "You should go now before I put up the barrier."

"This wasn't part of the plan," the redhead frowned.

"It was, but I just didn't tell you about it knowing that you wouldn't agree to it." Ginny glared at the other girl before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I'll be quick. A few memory spells and then the barrier is gone and the fleeing people will still run in fright because they'll think someone is attacking them with a knife. That's all they'll know. Look there's no time left to debate this."

Michael was already on his second person and closer to them now. Not to mention that the other five she had counted were getting farther as time passed.

Ginny opened her eyes in defeat. "You're right," then she bit her lip hard enough for Hermione to see the blood start to well up. Several bright lights rendered the rest of the partygoers unable to move.

"Problem solved," Ginny told her licking her bleeding lips.

Hermione looked around and gasped, "You stunned them…"

Sure, she could remove their memories easier this way but what good would it do if they couldn't move in time to get away from the vampire? Surely, he wouldn't be able to feed on them all though, so that may still save them.

"Hermione lets go," Ginny said eyeing the vampire who was on his third meal and one of the people she'd stunned.

"You mean to leave them like that, they'll die…" Hermione was uncomfortable with this whole plan but leaving them all to die… she couldn't bring herself to do that.

"They aren't real!" Ginny shouted and Hermione's brown eyes caught the hers and saw that they were scared, angry and, most of all, there was guilt deep inside of them. To live with it Ginny told herself that they weren't real people but that wasn't right. Hermione knew that somehow their magic had made these people real. They were real.

Her shout had gotten Michael's attention and he was headed toward them. Luckily, Ginny saw this because she was facing his way while still holding Hermione's arm so she used side-along apparition and the next thing Hermione knew they were back in their hotel room.

Ginny let her hand go and ran into the bathroom while the brunette stood stunned staring at the carpet floor where sand had been seconds ago. The plan involved letting Michael kill someone, which was just as bad as killing them herself. She knew that but she hadn't really thought about it. Not until now.

Ginny's reasoning had been what Hermione had vaguely told herself about this unknown single person, but the more people that got added to the ever-growing list had Hermione realizing that she didn't really believe that these people weren't real. That they'd somehow cease to exist when Ginny and herself made it back home. Even if that was somehow true, they were alive now and so their deaths counted. And even if it was to get back home, how could she have ever thought it was justifiable to just let people die.

Sounds of someone being sick finally got through her own tangled web of a mess her brain was currently in and, almost on auto-pilot, she went to the bathroom and kneeled down beside the sick girl to pull back her hair.

Ginny knew it was wrong too.

That they should've come up with an idea that didn't involve any deaths, but this was the easiest way and the clock was ticking down to the end of the movie. They had just two nights left after tonight.

She moved the hand not holding the girl's hair to her back to rub it.

"…You're right. They're not real." She didn't believe that and likely Ginny didn't either but if it helped Hermione could lie to her friend. If it helped, Hermione could do a lot of things, though she'd never thought standing aside and letting innocent people die was one of them.

But it was… She did it last night at the bowling alley too even if she was only just now realizing it.

She could have helped, maybe even saved, some of them.

It wouldn't have endeared her to The Lost Boys but was that more important than human life?

At the time it seemed so. That was why the obvious thing to do had been to do nothing.

Her inactions may haunt her more than her actions by the time she got back home but after going through all of this… after doing what she'd done... getting back home seemed like the only way to justify it.

Only two more nights, she thought.

Surely keeping them alive for two more nights wouldn't be as hard as it'd been so far. No, the hard part was over… at least for her.

Hermione looked at the redhead who had stopped throwing up and decided to help her get into her PJs and then into bed. She needed a good night's rest and then they could figure out where to go from here.

-

David was busy flirting was a busty blonde and her friend not far from the Ferris wheel. He'd been considering making them tonight's meal when he felt it. He hadn't felt this feeling in over ten years. It made him freeze only to glance over a moment later and see his boys' reactions matched his own. Though Paul's was a bit confused having never felt this before.

Michael had fed.

He was officially one of them.

David smirked.

"Change of plans boys."


	9. The Final Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 10/28/18* Chapter beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

"Hermione?" A quiet voice pierced the dark and silent room.

"Hmmm?" The witch in question was lightly dozing finally, and so she hoped the other wouldn't ask anything that would pull her into full consciousness.

"Do you think this world's like a dream?" Ginny cuddled closer to the other girl having decided to share a bed for the night. It felt safer that way.

"A dream… How do you mean?" Hermione mumbled sleepily.

"If you nearly die in a dream you wake up…" Her voice sounded so loud to Hermione even though she was still only speaking at just a whisper.

"You don't think we haven't been close to death?" The brunette's voice was more awake now, regretfully.

"I dunno…"

"Even if we haven't that's not something we should try putting to the test." She felt the other shift and sighed, "Ginny?"

The redhead stopped moving her body, but the other girl felt her head move. She was nodding.

"Yeah, you're right…"

This wasn't one of the times to joke about 'always being right.' Instead, the older girl simply said, "Try and get some sleep, okay Gin?"

"…Okay."

Sleep didn't come for either for a while after that and once it did the two sleep fitfully. When one wasn't having a nightmare they were being woken by the other who was. It was Hermione's worst night in ages and it wasn't helping that her mind was combining the war and the recent slaughter she'd seen.

The next morning Hermione was up first again and desperately wishing for a Pepperup Potion. She settled on the hotel's complimentary coffee which was nasty but so were most potions. She'd grit her teeth and bear it.

Hermione frowned at the normal phrase that had somehow made her uneasy. Was the mention of teeth now enough for her mind to think vampires? Well then, maybe it was a good thing her parents were no longer around. Shaking her head and pushing away the bad thoughts, she poured out the rest of her coffee in the sink before deciding a shower would help wake her.

The shower helped some and by the time she was out and dressed the clock read one o' clock. Her sleeping schedule was completely out of whack she mourned briefly before pushing it away as it wasn't important just then.

"Ginny?" She called out while approaching the sleeping girl. Her hair was a frightful mess, most likely from all the tossing and turning the night before. Hermione stood beside the bed and tried to shake her awake. "Gin come on, do you want some breakfast?" Glancing over at the bedside table clock she amended, "Or lunch?"

The girl grunted but stays face down.

"I guess I'll just go grab the both of us something. Hopefully, you'll like it." If not, it wasn't her fault the other was pulling a Ron two mornings in a row. Granted, neither slept well the night before so it wasn't like she didn't get it.

Hermione was tired as well but as much as she'd love to lay in bed and forget about the world she didn't have the luxury.

As she went to leave a hand shot out and grabbed her arm startling her, "Ginny!"

Hermione's free hand gripped her chest where her heart was pounding fast at the sudden action. Just what she needed, a heart attack over something so harmless when she'd been dealing with psychotic vampires the past couple of nights.

"Ginny… you gonna give me back my arm?" She asked with a small tug of said arm. The redhead was still face down shaking her head childishly. Hermione sighed, "Okay then wanna tell me why?"

The other girl mumbled something unintelligible into the pillow making Hermione raise an eyebrow and snort, "Sorry Gin, not fluent in pillow talk no matter how much Ron tried to teach me otherwise."

This caused the other with to turn her head and let out a small laugh.

"You said that on purpose," the lazy witch accused.

"Did I?" She totally did. It was a lame joke but then again Ginny wasn't a tough crowd when it came to it. With brothers like the Weasley twins you'd think she'd have a better tolerance but that wasn't the case.

Ginny's slight smile faded too fast. On a normal day she might've fallen out of bed laughing or started to rib Hermione over Ron, but this wasn't a normal day.

"Can... can we just stay here until the movie runs its course?"

"Unfortunately, no. We need to make sure things don't go wrong," she calmly told her friend.

"Michael's one of them. Nothing's going to go wrong now." Ginny was unmoving in her mindset that this one change would be all that was needed.

"We can't know that for sure. All it takes is one of them getting offed and then we might never get home." Hermione wasn't sure if that's how it worked. After all, maybe only one of them needed to survive for them to get home.

Ginny let go of her hand and sat up, "I've been thinking about that actually."

Hermione looked confused, "About what exactly?"

"This world, this movie. How is it even still here?" Ginny asked frowning.

"I'm not following." The bookworm was trying to wrap her mind around what the other was thinking.

"I mean the two of us used our magic to create it I get that. Somehow, we did this." She motioned to the space around her, "But this spell can't last forever. No spell can. So I thought even if we don't fulfill the objectives the spell should come to an end on its own in time either way."

Hermione blinked and considered the other's idea while taking a seat beside the other witch. "This theory has merit Ginny. You're right. No way this spell could keep going indefinitely, not without a source."

Ginny grinned, "See I'm right. We don't have to do anything else and we'll still go home."

The brunette sighed, "I don't know why I didn't think of this before and it's a logical thought... but Ginny, even without a source or doing as the spell intended we have no idea how long the spell will maintain itself if we cease trying to break it."

The Weasley girl frowned, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that while it seems most likely that this spell would stop when the movie ends, I don't think we can count on it for certain. The spell could last for months or even years."

"Years!? There's no way we put that much magic into the spell! No way," the younger girl exclaimed in disbelief.

"You're probably right but we shouldn't chance it." Hermione had read enough sci-fi books in her time. Some interesting time-travel theories had made her realize that this spell could be conserving magic by making time move faster in this world. For all they knew an hour might not have passed back home. She wouldn't mention this though as it was just another boundless theory.

Ginny huffed and crossed her arms petulantly.

"You're the one who said we couldn't keep debating everything because we'd talk ourselves in circles," Hermione reminded her gently. The other girl didn't respond. "The only way forward is to see this through until the end and doing our best to end it ourselves. I'll go get us some lunch while you get dressed." Hermione stood back up. "Is there anything in particular you want for lunch?"

Ginny looked down at her lap, "My mum's cooking."

Hermione sighed, "Hopefully you'll be eating it again really soon."

She didn't answer so the older girl took her leave to go get them some lunch. She ended up settling on some soup and sandwiches. That seemed like homemade food so maybe it'd help the homesick girl if even a bit.

-

Ginny stayed in the hotel room all day insisting that they could do nothing until the night rolled around but Hermione disagreed. She checked out the Emerson household under a disillusionment spell and learned that Lucy was upset that Michael had left in the middle of the night. When she had called Sam during her dinner with Max she'd found out her youngest was home alone, so she politely told Max that she needed to return home.

So, the date was still cut short, but he wasn't run out on. Lucy had stayed up most of the night waiting for Michael to return home but fell asleep in the chair waiting. Sam told her about hearing bikes and seeing lights which made the woman fear that her son was making the wrong sort of friends.

The only one in the whole house who suspected vampires was the grandpa and the only thing Hermione had to go on with that theory was the sudden pointy fence he was installing.

From there she went to the Frog's comic book store and didn't even need to hide herself to spy on them while she browsed their very tiny collection as she and Ginny had ruined most of it. They had a theory that it was the werewolves and ghouls on the city council that had done it. Yeah, they weren't going to be staking any vampires anytime soon she thought to herself before going to her last stop of the day.

The cave.

Even going in invisible during the day wouldn't guarantee that the boys would remain unaware that she had come there but the witch felt the need to check up on Star and Laddie. If everything seemed fine with them too then she'd finally concede to Ginny's thoughts of everything going according to plan. Once Hermione was standing outside of the cave during the day, she could admit it wasn't nearly as intimidating or as mystical seeming. The same could be said once she was inside. It was still the same but the torches and candles weren't lighting up the cave. Instead, the sun helped to illuminate some of the main area. Well now it made sense why they slept farther back in the cave.

Although the light getting through was enough to see the cave, it was not bright by any means. Being careful not to trip over whatever the vampires may have left lying around, she made her way the bed and shifted the curtains to see Star there fast asleep with Laddie.

Both still half-vampires given that they could sleep in here. It was easier to use Legilimency on someone while that person was awake. In fact, Hermione had never tried to read someone asleep before but she knew it could be done.

Hopefully, she could poke around gently enough not to wake the sleeping girl.

Prodding around as gently as possible, she discovered that Star had been in the cave when the others had arrived with a newly turned vampire Michael. The girl was beside herself and ran from the cave and didn't return until so close to dawn she'd almost fallen asleep on the way to her bed.

Nothing showed she had any plans that might interfere with Hermione's own, so she left the other brunette's mind and glanced at the sleeping child. He probably had more information about what happened when Michael arrived in the cave with the others but in good conscience she couldn't delve into the little boy's mind no matter how curious she was.

That done, she headed back to the front of the cave but stopped short and looked back considering something that the witch knew was stupid and something Harry or Ron would do; not someone sensible like herself.

Even Ginny would scold her if she knew what the other was even contemplating doing. While she debated, her feet made the decision for her and before she knew what she was doing her legs were leading her further into the cave. At some point it got too dark for even her adjusting eyes to see more than a step-in front of her, so she bit her lip enough to draw blood and whispered, "Lumos."

Even though the witch was disillusioned, it didn't mean that the cobwebs -which she could now not just feel but see clearly- couldn't touch her. So, she had to bat her way through them to continue on. She would probably have spiders in her hair by the end of this. If that was all Hermione had to worry about at the end she would be grateful because she was venturing further into the vampire's lair, into their resting area, and that was a completely dumb thing to do. And Hermione wasn't dumb. Not usually. Lately, her sanity might be something she needed to reevaluate.

Hermione was beginning to feel claustrophobic when the space she had to get through meant she'd have to crawl. Somehow, the witch couldn't see them doing this every time they went to their resting place. There had to be another way to get there but, sadly, she didn't know it.

Finally, Hermione was somewhere somewhat familiar and she carefully lowered herself down and used her Lumos to look around. The ladder was there as expected. It was conveniently placed propped up against the cave wall. Maybe it should be more inconvenient.

Hermione may have to suggest they remove that at some point just to be extra careful. It was practically screaming 'climb here to stake vampires'. Though it was a convenient thing for the movie, otherwise they'd never reach the sleeping vampires, it had no purpose now.

The witch knew what was above her as she'd watched the movie enough. Still, she braced herself and took a few calming breaths before raising her hand with the Lumos up. There they were hanging upside down fast asleep just as she'd seen them in the film, only so much more real. There was a difference though. Another vampire was hanging there; Michael.

That might have been the stranger part, but she barely spared a glance at the new addition instead turning her eyes to David. She gazed up at his sleeping face and noted that, despite the fact that he was clearly sleeping in a way that told her he wasn't human, he didn't look quite so threatening or evil when he was sound asleep.

Hermione frowned at the thought and shook her head.

"Snap out of it," she whispered to herself in the silent cave. Her stupid childish crush had been gone for years, and even if there was part of that lingering it would have died the first night that she met him.

He was a killer.

Worse even than a Death Eater.

She needed to get out of this cave and clear her head.

Hermione turned to leave but then stopped and looked back. Something inside of her was warning the witch to take more precautions before leaving. Did she know any useful spells that would help and would they even work on vampires?

Licking her lower lip that she'd not healed yet, it was an easy thing to reopen the wound. She focused on a health monitoring charm. She didn't have a wand to light up or vibrate and they were technically dead, but if it worked then she'd know if they became injured.

It wouldn't work on the dead but the undead? Well at least she tried. Looking away, she refused to look back up at them, at him, again. Hermione was telling herself that this was all just to satisfy her insatiable curiosity and now it was done. She left as quickly as she was able, all the while, telling herself that that was all this was. There was nothing else to it.

She didn't care about any of them, least of all him.

Hermione was perfectly fine with denying the pull she felt to David with her dying breath if it came to it.

Hopefully, it wouldn't, she thought troubled.

-

"Finally! I was starting to worry," Ginny pounced on Hermione as soon as she returned," there's no way checking Michael's family and the comic book shop should take so long."

Hermione sighed tiredly, "I brought dinner…" She held up the pizza box. "The line was long," the brunette finished unconvincingly.

Ginny raised a hand to the girl's bushy hair and pulled out something that could be part of a cobweb. "Got this waiting in line, did you?" She eyed the other witch suspiciously.

"Alright, alright. I might've gone one other place," Hermione admitted feeling guilty. Not about going there but about putting herself in unnecessary danger. Who knew how deeply they slept during the day? They could've woken up and then what? She knew she was lucky and would be forcefully reminding herself not to push it anymore from here on out.

"You went to the cave, didn't you?" Ginny grabbed the pizza box and walked away angrily.

"Yes… I went to read Star's mind." The redhead jumped onto the bed pizza box in hand and proceeded to dig in irritably "I went in disillusioned and she was asleep if that helps."

The other chewed her pizza furiously before answering with a glare, "No Hermione. That doesn't help! This is the second time you've done this!"

Hermione slowly approaches the bed, "Done what?"

"You know what! Last night we had a plan and you," She pointed her cheese pizza at the girl in a not so intimidating picture of anger but still made Hermione feel bad, "Added something in. Something I didn't agree on that was dangerous and planned to carry it out all by yourself."

The brunette sat on the edge of the bed watching the girl devour the pizza. The older of the two wondered if she was even tasting it.

"Then today you tell me your plan, but you left out the cave because you knew, like last night, I'd say it's too dangerous!" She set down the box and looked at her friend, "Hermione I don't know how things work when you're with Harry and my idiotic brother but with me you need to tell me your 'whole' plan and we 'both' need to agree got it?"

Hermione looked down at the blanket. She knew Ginny was just upset because she was concerned but if she had told her the other girl would've flat out refused. It was the whole 'it's better to ask forgiveness than permission' thing.

"I. Said. Got. It?" Ginny asked forcefully making Hermione look up into her serious face that reminded her way too much of Mrs. Weasley.

"I understand what you're saying, Ginny."

"I sense a 'but'. There better not be a 'but'." She eyed her friend in frustration.

Hermione laughed somewhat humorlessly if only she knew how many risks Ron and Harry had taken on a daily basis she'd already have gray hairs. "I know I take too many risks,Ginny. I'll try to tone it down but some of it is necessary."

Her glare hardened, "Last night and today weren't." Well, Hermione had to agree with the today bit at least. That was unnecessary. "Though that's not even the issue here. If you want to take some stupid life or death risk then convince me that you need to and then, and only then, will I agree otherwise. Stop being stupid!"

Hermione winced. She deserved that. Lately, her actions hadn't been the most rational and, in cases like today's had been, completely senseless. For a minute she debated telling Ginny about her little trip into the back of the cave but one look into her fiery chocolate eyes and she decided against it.

"Okay from now on we'll talk things through. Maybe I've gotten too impulsively Gryffindor-ish lately."

Ginny scoffed, "Maybe?"

Hermione looked up at the ceiling, "Alright fine. Definitely. I've been the worst kind of Gryffindor but I promise I'll tell you everything up front from now on. Especially if it's something dangerous… even if I think it's the only way or needs to be done and that you'll try and stop me from doing it. I'll tell you anyway."

Ginny nodded, "Good. Now you better remember you said that."

"I will." Hermione sighed, "I'm used to leading and not being questioned. I'm sorry, Ginny. I do it without even realizing it."

"I know," Ginny leaned forward over the pizza box to give her a quick hug, "don't worry. I love you anyways, infuriatingly obnoxious traits and all."

Hermione frowned but patted her back slightly, "Thanks I think…"

Once the redhead pulled back enough that she was looking at Hermione dead in the eye she said, "This still doesn't mean I'm sharing the pizza though."

While Hermione was processing those words the other girl moved back, grabbed the pizza, and ran off into the bathroom. Brown eyes blinked at the closed bathroom door. That was when her hunger made itself-known and she reminded Ginny that a closed door can't keep a witch out.

-

The sun had set over an hour ago and Hermione was pacing nervously while absentmindedly fiddling with the TV remote to give her hand something to do. Usually she would use her wand for this but, as she didn't currently know where in the world it was or even if it was in this world, the remote control would have to do.

Ginny's eyes followed the other girl's form. She was sure was going to wear a hole in the carpet at any minute now. Huffing, she jumped off of the bed startling the brunette. "That's it! I can't take it anymore! Calm down, everything is fine."

"But-" Hermione started but the other girl cut her off, holding up her hand in a 'stopping' motion.

"No, you checked everything and everyone one out. Nothing will go wrong. Just relax and soon we'll be back home."

Hermione didn't stop her fidgeting, though her feet were now rooted to the ground. "You can't know that. Something might've happened since today and I should be out there making sure-"

"No, nothing is going wrong. Now sit down you're making me nervous." She walked over to her friend and grabbed her back, her arms pulling her unresisting form to the bed where she made them both sit.

Hermione sighed, "It just tonight's the final night of the movie. I want to make sure things go right."

Ginny rubbed the other girls' arms with her palms in a comforting gesture. "And they will. Nothing is going wrong."

The redhead's words were more confident sounding than Hermione was sure either one of them felt.

"We haven't seen them since the night before last," she told the younger witch.

"That's a good thing," Ginny voices nonchalantly as she let herself fall backwards onto the bed while closing her eyes.

Hermione didn't disagree, though she didn't agree either. Instead, she asked a question that had been bugging her since Ginny convinced her to stay in and wait out their supposed last few hours in this world. "What about Paul…?" Hermione needed to know where Ginny was standing on this issue. It was something that needed to be talked about before the night ended.

Ginny opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. It was such a boring color. Even the pattern was dull. Honestly, she didn't want to think about the monster masquerading around as a hot guy but she couldn't not answer if she was going to keep the other witch at the hotel riding this out with her.

"If for some reason the spell doesn't end tonight then, and only then, will I do it. I'll sleep with that… with him," she paused and threw her arm over her eyes to block out the plain dreary ceiling. It was really a depressing ceiling. She missed colors. The Burrow was colorful.

Ginny continued since, knowing Hermione, her explanation wasn't enough for the other movie-traveler, "Hopefully we got the whole intent thing wrong. I didn't actually give voice to the intent either. At least not aloud so… yeah. It might just be voiced intent is what I'm trying to say."

Hermione didn't want to point out what could go wrong if Ginny waited to fulfill her possible solo portion of the spell until after the film ended but given how against the idea she was Hermione wasn't going to push it.

Even with her own strange compulsion to see David, she wouldn't know how she'd react to having to get that close to him. So Ginny's hesitance was understandable.

Hermione just hoped that her drunken mental intent hadn't been taken into account. If everything went well they should know the answer to that soon enough.

Sitting back up, Ginny broke the tension, "You know after this is all over I think I've decided to date someone boring and completely unremarkable." The redhead looked thoughtful before continuing, "You probably know a fair few guys like that huh? You could introduce me." She grinned unrepentantly.

Hermione's confusion fell away at the last bit and she glared, "What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Kidding, kidding, kind of…" The younger girl rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Anyhow, let's watch telly to pass the time." Ginny snatched up the remote that was lying limply in Hermione's grasp. "There's gotta be something that'll make time fly by."

Not long after, Ginny found MTV and was fascinated having never seen such wacky videos with a strangeness that her brother George would surely find captivating and would no doubt get inspired by. Not only that though. She found the 80's muggle music to be quite catchy. That is why she had no plans of removing herself from in front of the TV tonight. Except an hour into her newest hobby she did just that.

Sitting up she yawned and stretched, "I'm gonna go grab a snack at the corner store. Want one?"

Hermione had only just been able to relax and immerse herself into the music videos a few minutes ago and now her redheaded friend was crawling out of bed making her lose the new-found comfy position. The brunette wondered if she was doing it on purpose.

Looking at the bedside table clock, she stated, "It's only been a couple of hours since we had the pizza."

Still, she wasn't about to let the other girl, who was quickly throwing on something presentable, go out on her own.

As Hermione made to follow her by climbing off of the bed the redhead waved her off, "No. You stay put I'll only be a few minutes. No sense in both of us having to get dressed again. Besides, it's my snacks I'll get them."

"I don't mind and if I come with you. You'll be able to buy more since I can help you carry the bags." In Hermione's opinion, it was a sensible argument. Plus she didn't want the younger girl out of her sight, at least not tonight of all nights.

Knowing the reasoning behind this Ginny rolled her eyes. "You worry too much. I'll be right back."

Hermione groaned, "Why'd you have to say that? Now I have to go with you."

Ginny frowned, "What are you talking about?"

"You never say I'll be right back in a horror movie. People who say that never come back. It's a rule."

The redhead flipped her hair behind her shoulder with a small scoff, "Don't be silly. Besides this isn't a horror-" Ginny cut herself off while Hermione looked at her knowingly.

"Horror movie rule or not I'm going and you're staying right here, got it?" She commanded but Hermione protested anyway. Only for Ginny to grin wickedly, "Don't make me curse you into staying put."

"As formidable as your curses are, you'd have to catch me first and you just gave me a heads up." The older girl countered.

"I'd catch you off guard eventually," Ginny teased before her mirth faded. "Just wait here will you? And if I'm not back in fifteen, no ten minutes, you apparate yourself down to the store and raise all kinds of hell on them 'kay?" Hermione didn't look happy, "But that won't be necessary, I promise."

"You're so stubborn… but this is getting us nowhere. Fine. I don't get why you are so against me going, just hurry back," Hermione relented and Ginny clapped happily.

"I knew you'd see it my way."

"You remember that we had a safety talk before? Well, that doesn't just apply to me you know…"

Ginny barely refrained from rolling her eyes, "If someone tries to jump me they'll be the one regretting it."

"Just be careful and I'm putting a tracking charm on you whether you like it or not."

Ginny nodded with a, "Yes mother."

Hermione snorted, "If Mrs. Weasley were here you'd not have won this round."

"True but I'd put up one hell of a fight going down," Ginny added with a chuckle at her overprotective Mom. She missed her… and it had only been a few days.

After the spell was cast, Hermione watched her leave before deciding to see if she could watch her from their window. The brunette hadn't looked out of it before to see what was visible, so it wasn't impossible that she could watch her friend leave.

Hermione made it to the window across the room and peered out, only she doesn't see Ginny. No, staring up at her second story window is none other than David. He's calmly standing there staring at her all, but his face and hair are consumed by the shadows of the night. The tip of his glowing cigarette does nothing to help with the lack of lighting.

How did he know where they were? Why was he here? Those and several other questions flew through her mind as she backed away from the window but not enough to miss him move before he was suddenly right outside of her window.

Right he can fly.

The floating vampire simply pushed the window open with ease and stepped inside. Why hadn't she noticed that it was unlocked? Second story or no she should have checked it. Not that a lock would have made any difference had he truly wanted inside.

"What are you doing here David?"

He casually glanced around the room. "Thought I'd drop in. It'd be rude not to after you went out of your way to come by earlier today." David's tone was conversational, friendly even, but she was no fool. He was not here to simply return her visit. Was he angry at her intrusion? Most likely.

Was that all though or was there more? Still, that was more than enough to get her on his bad side and, frankly, after that event at the bowling alley she wanted to remain far away from that side of him. Hermione should've known her poor decision would come back to bite her. Hopefully, not literally though.

Playing it cool, the witch kept her attention focused on the vampire before her. "Guess I was curious. I could apologize if that's what you want."

Of course, she didn't say that sincerely as he wasn't here for an apology.

He chuckled and walked closer and it took all of her considerable Gryffindor courage not to back up. Showing a predator fear was never a good move.

"You know why I think you were there?"

Hermione met his gaze unflinchingly, "Pray tell."

"You were admiring your handy work."

That caught her off guard.

"My what?" She asked not bothering to hide her confusion.

"Michael."

She was barely able to contain her reaction. How did he know she had anything to do with his becoming a vampire?

"Who?" Hermione asked. She was doing a pretty good job of playing dumb, but he wasn't buying it.

"Maybe I should let you deal with Star. I'd save myself the headache," David joked.

She didn't know how to reply so she kept her mouth sealed as he kept on talking, "I can't seem to get and stay in your mind," he tapped his gloved index and middle finger to his temple as he spoke the word, 'mind', "but Michael is one of us now, so I can see into his."

Hermione was still at a loss of words when he spoke up again, "You and your little friend dropped him off on that beach last night during his frenzy knowing what would happen. You knew he'd feed and you helped that happen. Why?"

How did she even begin to answer that?

"I took a vow… so I decided to remove the possible threat. He seemed like the type to fight the change and not wanting to possibly be seen as remiss by magic, I stepped in. Half-vampires could be dangerous because they have something to gain with you dead or well deader, don't they?"

Hopefully, he bought it. It was the closest thing to the truth that she was comfortable revealing. He took a step closer and she leaned back but kept her feet firmly planted. His hand reached up to play with an unruly lock of hair at her shoulder. She pretended that didn't affect her.

"Then why not Star too?" He asked, and she can't tell if it's because he bought what she was selling or if he was playing along. It wouldn't surprise her if it were the latter.

"As much as she wants to be human she's not looking to save herself. She's waiting to be saved so I didn't think it was necessary."

"You read her right. She's no threat. But I wonder what you could have read that made Michael appear to be one. Care to share?"

Hermione didn't answer instead her eyes flickered to the clock wondering how long it'd been since Ginny left. She was unsure if she wanted her friend to be late or come back to help her distance herself from the vampire in front of her.

David smirked when he saw where her eyes darted too. It was time to let her in on a little secret he decided gleefully.

"Waiting for your friend? It could take her a while. She's very busy debating which chips to buy. Currently it's ranch Doritos versus cheese Doritos. Personally, I think she should choose ranch but if you asked Paul he'd choose cheese every time," he laughed at her dumbfounded expression.

Hermione was well and truly taken off guard. David was talking about chips? Then the rest of the words processed and her barrier slammed back up.

"How do you know what Ginny's doing right now?" Her question was suspicious, and the jerk had the audacity to find this amusing making her want to punch his perfect face. It quite reminded her of Malfoy at that moment, and not the semi-decent version of him after the war either.

Instead of answering he continued to infuriate her by talking about something else, "You know, I couldn't figure it out from your friend either and her mind is much easier to penetrate than yours."

Hermione's eyes narrowed, "You've read her mind?"

Sure, Ginny wasn't as good at mind magic but to think that he got past her barriers... That could be a problem. Just how much did this vampire really know? He backed away, letting go of the strand of hair in the process with a shrug, before seating himself on the fake leather armchair near the window he'd climbed through. However long ago that was.

"Just bits and pieces here and there. Nothing of much interest, however," He paused and Hermione's watching him watch her. He's probably just doing this for dramatic effect and damn him, but it was working, "putting the idea to get a snack wasn't too hard."

"Wait… you mean you compelled her to leave?" The was a scary thought. It was kind of like he was using the imperius curse on her and if he could use it on Ginny…

David was barely able to contain how mesmerizing watching her reactions was to him and not only that, "The two of you are giving my powers a workout unlike anything they've ever had. Tonight, you wanted to leave the hotel. I thought it'd be easy enough to prey on that want but I couldn't. My suggestions didn't stick but she wanted to stay in and a brief nudge was all it took on her. It worked even though I can barely read her mind…"

"Is there a reason you're telling me this?" Hermione asked warily.

"I'm only telling you what I want you to know and nothing more. You're doing the same." He knew she wasn't telling him everything. That wasn't surprising. For a minute the room was silent making Hermione shift and realize that she was in her night clothes, an oversized tee-shirt.

Not the time to think about this she scolded herself. Think about something else. So, she asked the first thing that came to her mind, "Where are the rest of your friends at tonight?" Once Hermione asked she realized that she was genuinely curious. "And why aren't you with them. I didn't know that you ever did anything solo."

He raised an eyebrow, "Because you know so much about us."

He was right she didn't. An hour and a half movie couldn't tell her everything there was to know, just the basics.

"They're teaching Michael the ropes, I'll be joining them later."

"That makes sense…" This was awkward. She was running out of things to talk about and staring at him was weird, but if she took her eyes away he might try something.

"Want to join?" He stood up swiftly only making her watch him closer. Was he about to leave?

"Um, no thanks. See I'm not really into death and dismemberment," she deadpanned making him laugh and this time it felt more real than any of his others tonight.

"That so? Too bad. We could've had a killer time."

She shook her head, "Your vampire humor is lacking."

"Marko's is worse," he told her in complete seriousness.

"That's hard to believe." As the words left her mouth she noticed something frightening. Was she actually having a real conversation with him?

Slightly amazed, she nearly asked him if that's what they were doing when something happened. It was strange and she couldn't explain it, but she knew that…

"Something's wrong." Her thoughts came out without her consciously deciding to voice them and David looked at her with a more serious expression.

"What are you talking about?"

He eyed her and his surroundings as if trying to see or feel what she was talking about. Suddenly it came to her what this feeling meant, "It's one of the other vampires. Something's happened."

David's expression while, serious before, turned downright scary. "What do- How do you know that?"

Hermione was trying to pinpoint which one it was and how they were hurt but was aware enough to notice the vampire growing rapidly more irritated in front of her, "I cast a spell to let me know if one of you got hurt but I wasn't sure if it would work what with you being what you are. But it does and-"

That's when David's eyes widened. He felt it too then. Hermione rubbed her chest over her heart and felt as if something had just gone horribly wrong and the vampire's next words and their sorrowful tone only served to strengthen her belief.

"…Marko."


	10. Wrong Movie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for leaving you all hanging for so long, I have no excuse... anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter!
> 
> Beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

Before the vampire before her could take off she asked, "Where is he?"

Hermione didn't stop to think about what she was asking and apparently neither did he as he simply answered, "The cave."

It briefly occurred to her, as she grabbed ahold of David's arm, that if Marko was, in fact, in the cave then he shouldn't be harmed. If her health monitoring spell was working then so too should her protection one cast on the cave.

Still, she cleared her mind of the distraction quickly and thought only of their destination, the lost cave. Then, with a faint taste of blood on her lips and an image in her mind, they arrived.

The scene before her was loudly chaotic with angry growls, shouts, and screams of pain. It was all so distracting that the witch didn't even feel the arm in her grasp slip away.

Dwayne and Star were off to one side, his arm around her neck, and a blur that might have been Paul was just disappearing out the cave's entrance; he seemed to be chasing someone.

However, her eyes locked onto one person.

Marko.

Marko was lying just to the right of the dry fountain; his withering form had a makeshift stake in his chest.

Did it get his heart?

He was moving too much for her to tell. The amount of blood spilling around him didn't help either.

David was at his fellow vampire's side in an instant, "Who did this?"

His demand was answered by Dwayne whose face she saw was contorted into his vampire façade. And given the similar gravelly undertone of David's voice the girl could assume his own face was the same even though his back was to her.

"Michael…"

Somehow this both shocked her and didn't at the same time. He was still fighting them even as a full vampire it seemed.

Then the screams faded just as Marko's body stopped convulsing.

He was dead.

Everything blurred together then. First the sounds; David's voice, Dwayne's, Star's. It was all jumbled and growing distant. The images went next. The last thing she saw clearly was Marko's still form and David advancing on where Dwayne held Star.

-

With a groan, Hermione opened one eye and then quickly sat up and nearly lost whatever she'd eaten last in the process.

Swallowing, she realized that her throat was painfully dry and the scene before her was painfully familiar. It was made no better by the pounding in her skull. It felt like a hangover. Looking up felt like the worst déjà vu of her life as her eyes fell on the sign reading, 'Welcome to Santa Carla.'

It was like someone rewound the tape.

Hermione's eyes nearly watered at the thought having to start this all over; of being stuck in a loop of some kind.

'This movie is supposed to be the Lost Boys, not Groundhog Day,' she thought bitterly to herself.

Still seated on the hard ground and making no move to get up, another round of déjà vu hit her when a voice called out from the other side of the sign, "What was it that Dorothy girl said again?"

Hermione heard a slightly hysterical note in her voice when she answered with the same words as before, "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

"Yes, that... Hermione, I have a feeling that we're not in London anymore," Ginny replied.

The brunette stood up then and walked around the sign only to see Ginny's equally scared expression as the girl's own brown eyes stayed locked onto the graffitied words that stated this was the 'Murder Capital of the World.'

When she had stared long enough at the words her gaze found Hermione's and she sighed out another line the older girl was familiar with, "I think I'm too sober for this."

Her strained joking tone flew over the other witch's head, however, as those words made Hermione pale in realization.

Ginny didn't remember.

For the redhead this was new; the first time.

If not, everything would be playing out differently; there would be questions as to how this happened. Why they were back at the beginning or something like that. But there wasn't.

While Hermione was struggling not to let her inward panic bubble over, the younger girl seemed to have no qualms about doing so.

"Hermione?" Ginny's voice was frantic but the girl in question wasn't paying her any mind as her own mind was running a mile a minute trying to figure everything out.

Not seeming to notice this, the redheaded witch continued, "I can't find my wand!"

Then she proceeded to search the surrounding area for said wand.

After about ten minutes or so she noticed Hermione hadn't moved and stopped her fruitless search having come to the terrifying conclusion that her wand hadn't traveled to this place with her.

"Hermione?" She approached the brunette slowly as not to startle her, carefully watching her friend's lack of response to her she waved a hand in her face.

"Earth, or where ever we are, to Hermione. Come in. Do you read me?" The girl giggled a bit at her own impression before frowning worriedly when the other girl just blinked and asked, "Sorry, did you say something?"

"…I think maybe you've finally fired your brain by overthinking things," Ginny hummed trying to lighten the mood.

It didn't work.

"If only…" Hermione's voice trailed off but before she could wander off into her own mind again Ginny spoke up, "We don't have our wands."

She didn't want to stress out her friend even more but she felt it was something she should make Hermione aware of.

Only Hermione nodded unfazed, "I know."

"…You seem awfully calm for a witch without a wand in a world with killer vampires," Ginny stated staring into her friend's face and watching her for something. What, she wasn't sure until she saw it. Hermione had sorted out whatever was going on in her brilliant mind and was going to let Ginny in on at least part of it.

"Okay so we're in a movie, The Lost Boys to be exact."

Ginny nodded thoughtfully before adding, "Or this is a really vivid drunken dream and as I've never had one of those, I guess your conclusion is the logical one."

Hermione continued as if she wasn't interrupted, "There's another movie called Groundhog Day."

Before the younger witch could ask what that had to do with anything Hermione held up her hand, "I know…" She swallowed painfully wishing for some water before pressing on, "what does that movie have to do with this one? Nothing. At the same time, I think the theory of that movie might apply here because… in that movie the main character lives the same day over and over again."

Ginny looked confused and Hermione could not blame her.

"I know this will sound crazy but-" The witch stopped as if considering her words.

Ginny shook her head, "We're magical and currently stuck inside of a film I think I can handle whatever insane thing you're about to lay on me."

The brunette smiled slightly, "This has happened already."

"Come again? I think I'd know if I went into a movie before Hermione."

"In Groundhog Day only the one character could recall that the day was on repeat. I don't know why only I remember but it's like the tape was rewound to the place we started and only I know about it."

Ginny frowned, "So you've been repeating the same day inside of this movie?"

Hermione shook her head negatively, "No, this is the first time. Last time the movie was nearly over but then…"

"Then what?" Ginny asked going with the flow. Stranger things had happened, though at the moment she could not recall them. But she was sure that they had so, like those things she can't recall, the Weasley girl would deal with it.

Hermione's mind went back to that scene in the cave. It had happened such a short time ago and yet it was already so far behind her now, "Marko died…"

Her protection spell failed.

Michael had staked him.

David had been furious.

Star was somehow involved.

But none of that had happened yet, and maybe never would.

"And that matters because?"

Ginny's voice cut into her thoughts yanking the brunette's mind back on track.

"Our spell was cast with the idea of saving them so if even one of them dies then I guess we start over. Originally, I thought of the possibility of a loop, but I didn't want to count on it in case something went wrong, and we didn't get a do over. It looks like at least this time we do."

"But only you remember the last time." She stressed the word 'you.'

"Yeah…"

Hermione had no clue why she was the only one with the memory, they had both cast the spell that got them into this mess but obviously she had gotten more involved with it along the way. For the life of her though she was drawing a blank as to how.

It was beginning to seem like Hermione was destined to be in a constant state of confusion while in this world and she really didn't enjoy it.

The redhead eyed Hermione as if the other witch was purposefully leaving something important out of the equation, "Well okay then. Let's do it right this time so I don't have to forget again."

Hermione agreed easily as the two start their long walk to town. She debated mentioning how to use their magic and possibly even using it to get to the heart of the town faster, but she was tired, and the walk would do her some good.

Plus, apparition with the way her stomach was currently in knots would only equal one thing and she did not fancy wearing her dinner.

"We should go over what we tried last time." Ginny spoke up after a few beats of silence.

"Yeah but first let's grab something to drink and then get some sleep, we can talk it over in the morning." Sure, they could get in some important things during their walk but more than anything she just wanted to not think about their situation right now.

It wasn't the responsible thing to do but she didn't care. No, she would save caring and responsibility for the morning when she was more rested and feeling less like an anxiety attack was around the corner.

Who would've thought she'd miss those couple of hours of carefree bowling before… she stopped her thoughts there not wanting to go there. It helped when Ginny started talking again.

"I can get behind the idea of a drink especially now."

Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation but really was all too happy to keep her mind off of other less pleasant things.

"How you can even think of drinking right now when my head feels like it's about to split open, I don't even want to know."

"You're the one who mentioned a drink," Ginny pointed out.

"I meant water… my throat feels like I drank sand."

-

Instead of stealing money this time Hermione decided to simply convince the guy at the hotdog stand that they'd already paid much to Ginny's disapproval. Though, she was happy to find out they weren't going completely muggle, she did nag a bit on her use of the unforgivable if only for a moment before agreeing that it was better than her using her feminine talents.

Neither would be looked upon highly if her family knew but what they don't know and all that. Besides, as real as the hotdog and soda tasted the people weren't real.

At least that was part of Hermione's way of explaining away her use of the Imperius curse and it made sense to Ginny.

What the younger witch didn't realize was that, though Hermione said that she didn't believe it fully herself anymore.

No, she'd seen people slaughtered, interacted with the vampires of the film, and could no longer believe them to be anything but real. Even if magic made them that way or even if it was temporary, she wouldn't go about her decisions as if they were anything less than living breathing people.

That didn't mean that she wouldn't ease Ginny's mind by saying otherwise, though.

After that she explained how they got a hotel room with fake credit cards last time and the two agreed to not rough it and skip straight to the getting a room.

This time Ginny decided to try her hand at getting the hotel receptionist to believe they had already booked their stay there. This was fine by Hermione as she was exhausted which was the only reason she was able to shoot down Ginny's idea of clothes shopping.

However, she knew that she would not be so lucky tomorrow; another reason getting a good night's sleep in a decent bed was a must.

Ginny showered while Hermione looked around the room, it wasn't the same one as before. Last time they were a floor higher but still the room looked the exact same.

The chair by the window, the tv, the beds and the sheets on them, the walls and the carpet. It all matched the previous room. A lot of hotels used the same design and even layout so it wasn't a surprise, but the likeness still got to her for some reason.

Maybe because it was the same as when she stood with a vampire before her having what might've passed as an actual conversation with him… Now she was back to square one and whatever trust, though likely very little, that she had with them, him, was gone.

Shaking her head of messy curls, she took the bed closest to the window and flopped down with a sigh. What happened to not thinking about it tonight, the girl wondered moodily, hoping her brain would shut off so she could sleep.

Not even ten minutes later her wish came true and she was sound asleep and, seemingly just as quickly, hands were shaking her awake.

"What?" Her hands pushed against the offending ones to see Ginny grinning, "The shower is all yours."

Hermione nearly complained about being woken up for such a reason but instead flipped away from the amused girl and towards the window.

"I'll take one in the morning." Her words were mostly spoken into her sheets so Ginny could barely them out, but she left the grumpy girl alone anyway.

The next hour or so the older witch, despite her exhaustion, drifted in and out of sleep.

Finally, she sat up and glanced at the redhead who was fast asleep and spared a glare at her peaceful form as if blaming her for her lack of sleep before sliding off the bed and padding to the washroom, not even bothering to be quiet.

Of course, having such a large family and constant movement around her house growing up had left the Weasley girl desensitized to the noise unfortunately.

Hermione did end up showering in hopes that it would help to make her fall asleep afterwards despite not having anything clean to change into when she got out. She wouldn't have any in the morning either so waiting until then didn't make a difference.

Drying off her hair, she slipped back into the room only to drop the towel in fright at the familiar dark figure standing at the opened window.

It was David.

-

For a moment Hermione just stood there dumbfounded and that seemed to make David amused from what she could see from the slight light of the moon streaming in from behind him.

Warily, she glanced over at Ginny as if to see if the other girl may have been eaten while Hermione hadn't been in the room. The rising and falling of the sheets proved that not to be the case much to her relief.

David let out a quite snort as if he knew what she was thinking and that the very idea that he might have made a snack out of her friend was absurd.

"Red's fine…" His low voice reached her ears and drew her eyes back to his own,

"…Red?" It was a nickname and one she'd never heard him call Ginny before.

His expression was less teasing now and more thoughtful, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he pulled the cigarette from behind his ear and brought it to his lips without lighting it.

He was waiting for her to speak. She didn't want him to win whatever little game he was playing but she had to know.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice was mostly puzzled but slightly fearful despite her best attempts, him sneaking up on her and Ginny didn't sit well with her.

His reasoning, whatever it may be, didn't either.

David pulled out his lighter and began to play with it but did not light the cigarette held in front of his mouth, "Just checking in on you. Friends do that don't they?"

"Friends? You don't-you shouldn't know me." There was a silent 'yet' at the end that even he must've heard.

His expression went blank. Hermione couldn't read him at all now. Not that she had been an expert on him before now, but it appeared as if he shut her out completely with her last words.

"…You remember?" The witch asked after a beat of silence in which he even gave up playing with the lighter.

"I remember a lot of things, you'll have to be more specific." His tone wasn't friendly and as if sensing the shift in the air Ginny rolled over causing the two of them to look her way and wait a moment.

Thankfully she didn't wake up.

"…Maybe we should talk somewhere else?" Hermione asked her focus now back on him.

"Lead the way." His gloved hand gestured towards the door to her right.

If he knew that those words made her uncomfortable he didn't show it and so she did. The two of them left the room through the door and he followed her into the hotel lobby where the only person behind the desk was an old lady who was looking at the two of them as if they had just committed the ultimate sin in her eyes by just being in her presence.

Hermione ignored the woman and instead turned her full attention on the vampire before her who was making himself comfortable in one of the lobby chairs and finally lighting up his cigarette now firmly perched in between his lips.

Feeling awkward standing, Hermione also took a seat. It was near enough to not be overheard but far enough away were David would have to make an effort and lean forward to touch her.

As it was, the vampire across from her was right at home leaning back in the chair. It may have reassured her had she not known how fast he could move, so she kept up her guard.

What was better; a David that remembered or one that didn't? But if he didn't know something, he wouldn't be here, her mind supplied.

"Do you remember me?" She finally asked.

"Obviously."

"No, it's not. Sure, it might explain why you showed up here but how did you even know we'd be here?"

He looked at her long and hard taking in a drag before exhaling, "Because you're always here whenever things start over."

Hermione was lost. What was he talking about? Was he trying to trick her?

"That doesn't make any sense, this is the first-time things rewound themselves." Her voice came out less sure than it had previously.

"You're wrong," He smiled and leaned forward as if he knew those words together grated on her nerves before he continued, "this is the fourth time."

Her eyes widened.

"That's not-" She paused, "Okay, if that's true then I've forgotten all but this time and the previous one?"

David doesn't say anything for a moment, focusing on smoking. She was pretty sure he was holding off speaking to try and bait her but this time she was going to wait for him to start talking.

Was he always this annoying or was it the uncertainty and lack of sleep getting to her?

"What was the last thing you remember before things reset?" She frowned wondering if maybe he shouldn't already know the answer to that.

"…Marko died." His eyes darkened slightly but that was the only thing that let onto the fact that those words angered him.

"I don't remember that ever happening." His expression tightened slightly before he grinned, "It's usually Paul that kicks it."

Ignoring that last part for the time being, she focused her attention on the most pressing matter at hand, "How is that possible?"

"Magic?" Is his sarcastic retort.

"Didn't you say that you remember three other times?" Hermione's brain was still trying to wrap around the thought that she was missing something, that something being her own memories wasn't helping to keep her calm.

"Yes, but that must've been before you cast your magic to make me remember." It was said offhandedly but she looked at him like he grew another head, "Why would I do that?"

David shrugged in a 'beats me' kind of way while taking a drag from his cigarette. Before she could scrutinize him further, he spoke.

"Maybe you got bored being stuck in a time loop all by your lonesome?" His joke was said cruelly, he was mocking her for some reason.

"I must've been losing my mind too." He glared at those words, but she was preoccupied and didn't notice. "If I came up with a way to make someone remember why didn't I use it on Ginny?"

"She's easier to manage without her memories. You're words by the way." He pointed out with a smirk.

Hermione nearly denied that but closed her mouth when she thought about her earlier thought about letting Ginny believe the people here were completely fake to ease her conscious… it wasn't the same thing but it kind of was.

It was easier if Ginny didn't know about certain things… things like her being afraid of Paul.

As if reading her mind David added, "It certainly helps on your quest to get Paul into her pants."

Hermione blanched, "W-what?"

He laughed causing the forgotten receptionist to glare with a vengeance their way but neither paid her any mind. Hermione was busy wondering just how much she told him in these other supposed loops, or maybe he was or had gotten things from her own mind? Or Ginny's?

Taking a deep breathe the brunette concentrated on strengthening her mind to prevent any possible stray thoughts. She worried that her thoughts had been broadcasting since they met in this time given how stressed the witch knew herself to be.

That would not do. Calm down. Even if he was telling the truth, she needed to keep her head.

Now more than ever, he probably knew way more about her than she was comfortable with and that needed to stop now. No more dropping her guard.

Still looking amused, he leaned backwards and butted his cigarette on the arm of the chair. Her eyes drifted to the receptionist who was not looking their way and then back to the very noticeable circular burn mark on the chair before meeting his eyes again.

He lifted an eyebrow as if daring her to say something about it; she didn't.

"If I helped you to remember then why don't I remember at least as much as you do?" She watched his amused eyes change. "What happened last time?"

"The first two times I remember Paul died." He paused and looked straight into her eyes as if to convey the seriousness of their conversation, "You've told me that you've witnessed both Dwayne and Marko's death. I suspect mine as well though you've never directly said it."

Part of her wondered why not, but then again maybe she was being considerate? Something was missing but his next words make her forget that.

"Last time none of us died."

Hermione's eyes widened, "Then the loop should've broken… so why didn't it?"

It scared her to think that no matter what they would be stuck on repeat.

"…Because last time you died."

She gasped, "I died?"

It was surreal to hear, to wrap her mind around. So, if they die or if she does, then it rewinds? Then it most likely applies to Ginny as well. That was both reassuring and not. At least neither of them could die here, not for good anyway, but why was it so hard to keep them all alive?

David stood up then startling her from her thoughts, "So I probably forgot all the other times because I died?"

But she still remembered the first time, or at least Hermione thought it was the first time that she was remembering.

"It's the only thing that was different so it would make about as much sense as anything else." That said the bleach blonde headed for the front of the hotel.

Hermione stood up then and called out, "Where are you going?"

"The sun will be up soon." He didn't stop or turn around as those words came out of his mouth and she nearly called out to ask to see him tomorrow night as she had more questions, but she stopped herself.

When he disappeared from sight Hermione walked back to her room. Her body was on autopilot at this point, her mind and her feet working almost separately.

Somehow, she ended up back in her bed, but sleep didn't find her.

Her mind analyzed their conversation for hours. Many things caught her attention after the fact but one of them stuck out above all the others.

"…Because last time you died."

In the morning she would tell herself off for over analyzing and also blame her lack of sleep but right now she could visualize it all in her mind; his voice, his movements, the darkening of his eyes.

Her being dead made him upset. His fists had clenched when he spoke of her death but she had been too shocked by said mention of her death to have thought on it. Her eyes had caught the movement, but her brain hadn't processed it. His eyes had shown his upset at his fellow vampires' deaths, they had briefly been amused at Ginny's plight with Paul, and then they had darkened once more for her?

It made sense that he would feel something for the other vampires' demise, but she was just a human, a witch. One that he likely suspected was the cause for this time loop and he wouldn't be wrong.

A morbid part of her wondered how she died.

It had to have happened in front of David for him to know about it. Should she ask him when she saw him next?

Did she really want to know?

It was eight seventeen in the morning when she fell into an uneasy sleep. It was nine twenty-four when Ginny awoke and tried to get her up.

Hermione didn't budge, not for another two hours.


End file.
